


Dying To Be Yours

by lancer365



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Angst, Dark, Drama, F/F, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-05 01:37:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 42,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3100220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lancer365/pseuds/lancer365
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After an argument tears her relationship with Suyin apart, Kuvira disappears; traveling down a destructive path of her own creation. Disgruntled and tortured by memories of a relationship that had passed, she shows up again months later at the doorstep of the Beifong family house...with a gun (Modern AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Modern AU...and I don't really know what to say about this, except that this has the same characters I normally use; just set in a different world. Honestly, I don't think most of you are going to like this one; it's a little…different .lol. Anyways, I'm not going to say anymore about it... So, just go for it. ;)**  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Dying to be Yours**  
\----------------------------

"Kuvira, what are you doing?" Yun sat up straight in the passenger seat, watching two white lights approach them through the darkness, rapidly getting closer. "What the hell are you doing?"

The lights began to blind them through the windshield as the car veered towards the glare.

Yun reached out for the wheel. Grabbing it, she yanked it to the side, startling Kuvira from her daze. The car swerved back into their lane, Kuvira shook her head as she tried to navigate the dark back road through blurry vision.

Pressed to the passenger door, Yun looked over to Kuvira with widened eyes. It felt like she had entered a car with a murderer and not her best friend. "Shit dude, Are you _trying_ to kill us!" She said her chest heaving as she tried to calm herself down with a few shaky deep breaths. "A-a-are you sure…you don't want me…to drive?"

Inching her way back into the seat, Yun released her hand from the death grip she had on the handle of the door.

"No, I'm good…everything just looks a little fuzzy."

"Oh I'm sure it looks pret-ty fuzzy after 7 cans of that stuff." Yun said, watching the road carefully; acting as Kuvira's second pair of eyes. "I can't believe I'm letting you drive to…" She threw her hands up. "…God knows where."

Yun turned to Kuvira, looking at the woman's half-lidded eyes sluggishly drifting about the dark road. "You know what, I was an idiot to let you pressure me into thinking a drunken woman could drive. Stop the car Kuvira." She listened to Kuvira growl under her breath. "Kuvira I-"

"I said I'm fine!"

"You're fine, well then you gotta be fuckin' kidding me, because I'm pretty sure you almost got us killed."

Kuvira sighed, speaking in a softer tone. "We're almost there anyways."

"Almost where?"

"It doesn't matter."

Yun gave up. It was her bad idea to get into the car in the first place. Why couldn’t Kuvira just let her drive her home?

Turning her head to look back out the windshield, she watched shadows passing by them, knowing they were trees set against the backdrop of the blueish night sky. The car jerked at varying intensities. Some were subtle, and some were rough. Her body felt them all. When Yun looked over she saw Kuvira’s hands fighting the steering wheel. Driving wasn’t the word for what she was doing; surviving seemed like a better fit.

The headlights didn't provide much relief from the black hole it seemed like they were diving into. They were half blind on the road, not knowing what could come out of the shadows.

It was hard enough for Yun to see farther ahead of them, so she could only imagine what everything looked like to Kuvira. At the moment, her biggest fear was running into an animal then landing in a ditch once Kuvira finally lost control.

After leaving the bar, Yun would have continued to press Kuvira for the keys, but arguing with her was always a stupid move, since the other woman was too stubborn to ever give in to anyone else; and that stubbornness was only heightened in her buzzed state.

Yun knew something was different about Kuvira the moment she pulled them into a sleazy gas station for a case of cheap beer. She was surprised they actually let Kuvira stomp out with the case; they had to have noticed something wasn’t right with her at the register. Then when she thought it over, she wasn’t as surprised. Not many people messed with Kuvira. The employees at the firm, lower level lawyers like herself, talked about Kuvira as if she were a brute. _“Be careful you might not have any teeth left.”_ They said things like that all the time.

And yeah, the first time she ever talked to Kuvira, it was a little nerve-wracking.  She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t a yes to her drink invitation. That was the first night they’d gone to the bar together, and she remembered watching Kuvira’s eyes scan the room, like she was searching something.

"Like a daughter, huh…just a daughter?"

Yun looked down, briefly letting her eyes graze over the unopen sixth can left sitting in the cup holder, as she listened to the woman speak to herself in hushed tones.

Continuing to whisper angry words under her breath, Kuvira's knuckles had gone white gripping the steering wheel in her hands.

"Wait. Is that why you're mad and rampaging through the streets?" Yun asked, staring at Kuvira with an incredulous look on her face. "All this because I told you what I _happened_ to overhear Suyin saying about you?"

Looking back to the windshield, Yun rolled her eyes before noticing the first splash of rain hit the glass.  _'Great, just what we need…now I'm stuck in a car with a drunken lunatic friend who can barely see, and it's gonna rain on top of that…Yup, I'm going to die tonight.'_

Pulling her head to the side, Yun gazed out the passenger window, not seeing much but a dark blur. "What's so wrong about Suyin saying you're like a daughter to her?" She shrugged. "Sounds kinda nice actually, that she would think of you like that and all." Yun dragged a hand through her dark hair. "Damn, I mean I wish the boss recognized me like that."

Kuvira snapped her head around to look at the back of Yun's head with raging eyes. "That's not good enough!" Feeling the car sway in her control, Kuvira’s eyes darted back to the road. "She's trying to cast me aside and down play what our relationship really was...even after everything we've been through together."

Yun furrowed her brow, trying to comprehend Kuvira's words in the most rational way. She shifted her eyes down to gaze into the fabric of her fitted dark-wash jeans.  _'I knew they were close, but she couldn't possibly mean…no, of course not.'_

Looking over to Kuvira, she watched the woman wring her hands around the steering wheel, as she listened to her breathing grow more erratic.

"What are you talking about?" Yun gave Kuvira a skeptical smile. "I know you can't be telling me that you and Suyin have been…you know, sleeping together."

Unable to contain it, Yun let a hearty laugh rip through the tension in the car. "That would be very hard for me to believe."

Kuvira stayed silent as she turned the car into a gated suburb; running the sedan over a curb in the process.

It wasn't really accurate to call the place a suburb, since the houses were more like estates; sitting on large plots of land, with plenty of space separating them from their neighbors; some even isolated on the tops of private hills.

The rain began falling harder against the windows, making Kuvira's already impaired visibility even worse. Maneuvering in between the luxury cars that lined the streets was borderline disastrous. Turns were made here and there, some into the wrong lane. A light pole was narrowly avoided, a fancy bush was almost gutted as two of the car’s wheels veered onto someone grass, and a parked limousine was nearly side swiped.

Kuvira had finished most of those drinks hours ago, but the alcohol was still affecting her system, and only very slowly beginning to wear off.

The rain was getting worse by the minute, starting to pour down a full assault on the car; some drops sounding as if they’d shoot right through the roof. Kuvira had no other option but to resort to driving from memory down the roads she knew all too well.

Working as an assistant for the high-ranking lawyer, Kuvira had travelled many times down the same roads to the older woman's house; sometimes for work-related things and sometimes for personal things. After a while the two were no longer separate. Coming over to the lawyer’s extravagant house always turned into something more.

As the years passed, Kuvira's face became a common sight around the Beifong household. Bataar Sr. was never too suspecting of his wife's long nights and random work-related emergencies, because he knew her job demanded a lot of time and dedication, often taking her focus away from the family for extended periods of time.

But now going back to the house felt different, even strange, since she had quit working for Suyin months ago.

Contrary to what everyone was made to believe, the heated argument that forced them apart had nothing to do with anything work-related. And given the nature of their secretive relationship, it was a demise bound to occur.

Normally Kuvira couldn't stand to watch Suyin cry; but that night was the one time she could. She left Suyin a mess of tears, even as the woman begged for her not leave.

Getting closer to the house's street, Kuvira spared a glance to her left wrist; feeling it burn with the ghosted remembrance of Suyin's iron grip, that tried to hold her back in a futile attempt to prevent her from walking out that night.

Kuvira couldn't recall much from the argument itself. At the time, her mind had been lost in blinded anger.

But she did remember clearly what made her turn around and pry Suyin's fingers from her arm. It was the question the older woman had asked her, which was left ingrained in her mind, word for word.

Still hearing the exact part of the conversation replaying in her head, everything else in the present began to fade into the background.

_"What's the point of us acting like we'll have the relationship that we know we never will?"_

_"What's the point? Because I love you. That should be enough."_

Suyin never answered her back; and it was the woman's silence that told her more than any words ever could. She remembered how exhausted the lawyer looked, sitting on the edge of the bed, with a hand over her eyes.

Blinded by love, Kuvira never paid attention to what it was doing to Suyin; and therefore, she couldn't feel any guilt for what she didn't see. Or really, what she didn't want to see.

Some rational part of her had seen the argument coming, but still she blatantly chose to ignore Suyin's expressed doubt about their relationship.

Earlier that same week, Suyin had told her that she was getting tired of playing childish games; sneaking around and covering things up with lies too many times to count. But even that hadn't made Kuvira as angry as Suyin's question did that night.

Hearing Suyin ask _"what’s the point?"_ had snapped something within Kuvira, forcing her to accept the reality she tried to run from; the reality that her "boundless love" actually had boundaries...and a time limit.

To Kuvira, it sounded like Suyin was telling her that it wasn't worth anything to keep their relationship alive; and that's when she stormed out of the room with the older woman following her after a moment of hesitation.

Kuvira's memory skipped into a sudden blur. The next image she saw was herself ripping open the front door to Suyin's house, being held back by a hand, before she turned to look into Suyin’s pleading eyes. That’s when she pulled the gripping hand from her arm, holding it for a split second as she felt her angry resolve breaking.

It was hard for her to remain indifferent with Suyin for any long extent of time. But if she had walked back, scooping up the crying woman into her arms, she would have only been giving into the same toxic cycle of pain and love that colored their unhealthy relationship.

After the ordeal, Kuvira started to drink more; hoping to forget Suyin and lose the memories that held her down inside the pit she was trying to climb out of.

Ironically, what the alcohol phased out were the good memories. The bad ones seemed to haunt her no matter what she did or how much she drank.

Bringing herself back from her thoughts, Kuvira felt the change in the atmosphere of the car. She sighed, deciding to spare a glance over to Yun who had gone mysteriously silent. Turning her head, she saw the other woman's widened eyes staring at her as her mouth hung open agape. "What?"

"You aren't serious about sleeping with Suyin are you?"

Kuvira focused back on the road, crunching her eyes into an angry glare. "Why is it so hard to believe?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because…she's a faithfully married woman with 5 kids."

Yun closed her eyes, leaning back into the chair, as she attempted to relax for the first time since she had gotten into the car. "And besides, even if something really did happen between you two, I can't imagine why you'd ever believe it'd last."

The car came to a sudden screeching halt in the middle of the road; throwing Yun forward into the dash, before she froze, figuring too late that her words were the wrong ones to say. Watching Kuvira throw open the driver side door and get out into the pouring rain, made Yun want to sink further into her seat and disappear.

She didn't like it when Kuvira drank, because when she did, it was for a reason. Something bothered her enough to make her want to forget. But on the other side of that bottle or can, she didn't know who her friend would become.

Casual social drinking left Kuvira's normally uptight personality slightly relaxed. Add in two or three more drinks and she became irritable; her patience tested by every sound or sight she didn't want to hear or see.

Tonight was one of the rarer occasions, where she witnessed Kuvira drink more than her fair share, and the cans littered on the floor behind her were proof of that.

Some might have questioned the kind of friend she was for not stopping Kuvira when she had the chance. But in truth, it was because she feared for her own life when Kuvira went too far. Doing so much as saying the wrong thing could throw the other woman into a blood rage, making her a violent drunk, and maybe even one willing to kill.

Yun had also noticed lately how guarded Kuvira was around the topic of Suyin; opting to either stay silent when people talked or asked about her, or on the bad days, she'd just get up and leave.

Kuvira had told her about her fight with Suyin, albeit in an abridged version.

Yun had Inferred from the gaps left in the story for her to fill in on her own, that the fight –bad enough as it was– had been the reason Kuvira quit the job she had had for so long.

At work, Yun had even noticed that with Kuvira’s absence Suyin had changed too; her mood had depressed. And the woman who normally enjoyed her job, now sat through meetings with a blank face, waiting for the day to end.

It was around that same time that she noticed Kuvira's demeanor start tread downhill for the worst. She guessed that's when the drinking became a daily occurrence.

Slowly connecting the dots between the parallels of both of their morose dispositions, Yun sighed, knowing that Kuvira wasn't lying about her and Suyin.

The more she thought about it, sitting frozen in the car, the more believable it became that Kuvira's relationship with Suyin went beyond a work-related camaraderie.

Hearing the wet muffled crunch of Kuvira's footsteps approaching her side of the car, Yun absent-mindedly lifted her hand up in an urge to lock the doors. But before she could do anything, her door swung open.

Yun hesitantly looked up at Kuvira's hovering form. Her eyes trailed past the woman's dark jeans that had taken on an almost black color, to her deep green button-up that was appearing just as dark, soaked by the rain. Some of the cold water that cascaded down Kuvira's body or that dropped from her face, landed like little pricks onto Yun's arm that rested closest to the opening of the door.

Kuvira stared down at her with apathetic eyes; her shoulders moving up and down with every breath she took. But, it seemed odd to Yun that Kuvira's face lacked the emotion her body was displaying.

In a sudden rushed movement, Kuvira reached into the car, not noticing Yun’s recoil, as she opened the glove compartment in front of the woman's legs, taking out the Colt 1911 she kept stowed away.

"Woah, okay okay I'm sorry…jeez." Yun raised her hands in defense as her eyes darted back and forth between Kuvira and the gun. "You're not going to kill me, are you?" She asked, watching Kuvira pull out and check the magazine like she had done it hundreds of times before sliding it back in with a defined click. "I mean we're–we've been friends for a long time…so I said something stupid about Suyin, sorry about that…I mean I-I totally believe it now that you and her a-"

"Take the car and go."

Yun stopped with her mouth open at hearing Kuvira drone like tone. She let her eyes break from the other woman to look out of the windshield.

Through the rain hitting the glass, she could make out Suyin's house just down the long dirt driveway. She had been so worried about what Kuvira was going to do to her, that she hadn't even realized where the car had stopped. _'Why are we here?'_

Squinting her eyes down the road, Yun slowly turned back to Kuvira whose eyes were trained on the metal frame of the gun in her hand. The person standing above her only slightly resembled her best friend. Yun could see Kuvira trying to empty herself of any emotion she held. And it was scary to think of what she had planned in her mind, that made her want to desensitize herself.

"There's something I have to do, and I won't need the car anymore. So take it and go."

Yun stepped out of the car; her own dark hair getting wet by the rain. "Kuvira, don't do anything you're gonna regret."

"Trust me. This is something I won't regret."

"Kuvira lo–"

Kuvira pointed the weapon at Yun and backed up. "Don't talk to me about it anymore!" She gestured with the gun over to the car. "Just get the hell out of here. And don't come back."

"Okay Okay, just…just think about what you're doing."

"I already did, now go."

Shaking her head, Yun circled the car. Leaving was a bad idea, then again, so was staying.

"Thanks." Kuvira said with a softer tone, as she reached out and closed the passenger door, before looking back up to Yun, who had paused with her hand on the roof of the car.

"For what?"

"Just thanks."

Yun nodded. "Whatever…don't do anything stupid Kuvira, really."

Getting into the driver's seat, Yun sighed, holding her hand over the gear shift for a moment before shifting out of park and turning the car around. She spared a last glance through the rear view mirror at Kuvira standing in the middle of the dirt road. _'God, what is she going to do?'_

The taillights of her car disappeared around the corner, and Kuvira turned, setting her eyes on Suyin's house in the distance.

The only thing standing between her and the front door was the long road ahead.

Kuvira stood, blinking away the rain running down her face that made her slightly clearing vision revert back to its cloudy blur. She looked at the gun, letting the rain drop from her face onto its chilled metal. Sighing, she shifted her eyes back up, gazing ahead at her destination for a moment before her face morphed into an angry glare of determination.

The first step she took out of her frozen stance was the most difficult. Her legs were heavy, weighed down by rain soaked jeans, and her mind was left clouded in an emotive haze, brought on by a combination of the alcohol and the emotions she tried to push away.

"They were all lies Kuvira, nothing but lies." She spoke to herself, hearing Suyin's voice echoing in her head like a recording as she moved towards the house.

_‘Stay with me tonight.'_

Kuvira pulled her boots out of the mud they clung to, each step seeming to trudge one after the other.

_'Kuvira, come here.'_

She ran a hand down her face, wiping away the escaping tears that had mixed with the rain.

_'I'm here with you now. Don't worry about how long we'll be together.'_

Kuvira's hand gripped the cold steel of the gun tighter as she continued to move forward.

_'I need you too'_

Kuvira stopped in her tracks almost to the house. "But, do you love me?" She said, letting the sound of her own voice bring a reality to the thoughts in her head.

Suyin always avoided answering that question, and it was hard for her to understand why. If Suyin really did love her, there wouldn't have been any hesitation or doubt in her mind.

Kuvira's thoughts began to swim through her head faster and faster, dizzying her in memories of Suyin she wanted so desperately to forget.

She could remember the feel and warmth of their bodies pressed together, the soft touch of the lawyer’s lips on her own, and that endearing smile Suyin saved for no one but her.

Dropping to her knees in the mud, Kuvira let every memory and feeling envelope her, as she drowned in a new kind of darkness; One that wasn't actually dark at all, just a self-created suffering brought on by love.

"Get out of my head." Her voice was soft as she leaned over. Placing her hands out in front of her, she stared down at the ground, watching the water droplets hit the earth's surface, turning the dirt into mud. She clenched her teeth, slamming her eyes shut then a fist into wet the dirt. "Get. Out. Of my head."

Kuvira dragged her hands back towards her, releasing the mud she had raked in out of anger.

There was nothing left to stop her. She would have the lawyer whatever it took, because Suyin was the only person she loved.

Sinking down to her elbows, she ran her hands behind her head, water slipping into her collar and slithering down her back. _'It wasn’t supposed to happen like this Suyin.'_ Kuvira took a few deep breaths to control her uneven breathing, and to reel in her emotions.

Lifting herself up, she sat back on her heels and gazed at the house in her view. "You're probably in there now…living life...like you never even knew me." She stood up, ignoring the shiver that shot through her body from the freezing rain.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled a last deep breath. "You can't forget about me that easy." She opened her eyes with a renewed drive locked inside of them. "I won't let you."

Pushing the thoughts away into the recesses of her mind, Kuvira pressed forward, led by a compelling force of her own creation. With every strike of her heel to the ground, she felt a surge of adrenaline begin to pump through her veins as she neared the front door. Her heart rate sped up reaching the wooden steps, as her mind flushed out any rationality that was still left.

This woman would be hers.

Coming to a stop on the porch, Kuvira stared at the door while turning back was still an option. But she had already come too far and through too much to let it go so soon. With that she raised her hand, knocking twice on the door.

"Who is it?" Bataar's voice rang out from the other side.

Smiling, Kuvira stepped to the side, effectively hiding herself from the view of the door's peephole.

At the lack of response, Bataar's curiosity got the better of him and he opened the door, just like Kuvira planned he would. She stepped into his view, letting his eyes skim over her wet form and take in her unsettled state. "Kuvira…What are you doing here?"

Kuvira smirked, slowly raising the gun to aim at his head. "Shh…I don't have to kill you. But I will. Where is Suyin?"

Bataar looked over his shoulder inside the house and down the hall, trying to maintain his composure in the face of death. He tightened his grip on the door. "Look, s-she's pretty busy right now." He turned back to Kuvira, seeing her eyes had darkened, watching her move her second hand to the gun. Those were the eyes of a murderer and not of the assistant who used to work for Suyin.

Suyin didn't tell him much about why Kuvira quit. In fact, he sensed that she didn't really want to speak of it at all. The only reason why she told him anything was because the rest of the family wouldn't stop asking her questions about where Kuvira had gone; Opal had been the worst.

She and Kuvira had formed an interesting kind of friendship over conversations about books and advice. Over the years, Bataar watched as his daughter's slight curiosity with the older woman grow into a full-blown fascination.

When he mentioned it to Suyin, he remembered watching her freeze in place where she stood in the kitchen, staying silent for a moment before waving him off and saying "Don't worry about it Bataar."

And he didn't; he barely thought anymore of it, until after a casual conversation with Opal had turned into something resembling more of a subtle confession of hidden feelings.

It was the glazed over look in her eyes, and the almost endearing soft tone of her voice every time she spoke about Kuvira that made him sure she had deeper feelings for the woman.

When Kuvira disappeared, he noticed Opal had become a little bit more distant. He assumed it was because she had lost someone that she considered a close friend. Kuvira had always been Opal's relief from a family of boys & men, and no one had seen her for months.

But now she was back; paying them a surprise visit with a gun in her hand, asking for his wife, and his stall for time had run out.

When Bataar saw Kuvira's eyes shift down to the ground, he used the opportunity of distraction to briskly attempt to close the door, only to hear the loud smack of the gun hitting the wood, and find her boot wedged in between the crack.

"Yeah, I knew you were going to do that." Kuvira pushed herself inside, finding refuge from the rain, as the water from her clothes dripped down onto the marble floor. Dropping the gun to her side, she briefly closed her eyes, letting the fresh scent of preparing food hit her nose.

"Bataar wh-" Suyin came out of the kitchen; the sleeves of her dark shirt rolled up to her elbows as she moved down the hall, approaching the open area by the front door. The closer she got, the slower her pace became as her face dropped and her eyes widened, realizing who the dark figure was standing in the middle of the room.

Kuvira gave one of her entrancing crooked smiles, watching the silver buttons of Suyin's shirt give off a glare in the recessed lighting above, before their eyes connected. "Just the woman I wanted to see."  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
**Author's Note(2)- So this may not be my strongest story, but I just wanted to release this part and see how it does. This is really just a random concept I came up with after I happened to watch a few Lifetime movies. lol. But if this doesn't do that well, I probably won't think too much more about it, and instead just move onto something else. lol. So tell me, is it worth continuing this one or no?**


	2. The Smoking Gun

**A.N. Part 2, Have Fun ;)**

**_Previously: Kuvira gave one of her entrancing crooked smiles, watching the silver buttons of Suyin's shirt give off a glare in the recessed lighting above, before their eyes connected. "Just the woman I wanted to see."_** __  
**\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**  
**The Smoking Gun**  
\-------------------------------------

“Kuvira?” Suyin froze where she stood in the hallway, watching Kuvira lift the gun to her.

Bataar’s eyes widened. “Now look can’t w-”

“ **Back off**.” Kuvira growled, looking over to Bataar with menacing eyes. He never hurt her, but right now she didn’t care. “This is between me and you.” She said, looking over to Suyin with a stern face before she smirked.

“Don’t do this Kuvira–”

“What does it matter?”

Suyin stared at her. “Everything.”

Kuvira took a step closer, gazing down into Suyin’s mesmerizingly clingy, yet loose button down. It was that expensive black shirt with just the right amount of shine to the fabric that she loved. “I could aim here.” She aimed in the area of Suyin’s heart. “Or here…” She moved the gun to the woman’s head, staring down the barrel. “…and end your life with one shot.”

Kuvira sighed with a growing raw smile, dropping her head to the floor and the gun to her side. “But I’m not gonna do that.”

Suyin stared silently at Kuvira, letting go of the breath she held.

“At least I don’t plan to…” Kuvira’s eyes snapped back up to Suyin’s, something off-kilter inside of them making Suyin stiffen again.

Seeing Kuvira for the first time since their argument in such a broken state was shocking to say the least.

“I’ve missed you Suyin…So…here I am…” Kuvira opened her arms in a mock invitation to the woman across from her. “…aren’t you going to welcome me back…” She held her arms out a moment longer then brought them down, the amusement washing from her face. “The same way you always used to...” Her words came out in a virulent tone as she advanced closer to Suyin.

Suyin tightened her jaw and looked down at the gun in Kuvira’s hand then to her kids coming to stand around in her peripheral vision. “Why are you doing this to yourself Kuvira?” Suyin took a slow step back, as Kuvira suddenly stopped her advance.

Kuvira pointed the gun to her chest, unknowingly making Suyin uneasy. “I’m not…” She gestured with the same hand to Suyin. “You did…this grand disaster, is your fault.” She dropped the gun to her side and walked closer. “But come on…don’t tell me you aren’t happy to see me again.” Kuvira smirked. “I came back just for you.” She treaded on a dangerous line.

“Don’t say anything else Kuvira.” Suyin’s eyes narrowed at their subject, leaning away as she watched Kuvira come within a foot of her. “I mean it.”

“You do?” Kuvira reached out and grabbed Suyin’s upper arm. Ignoring any of Bataar’s outbursts, she let the wetness from her hand seep through the struggling woman’s sleeve. “Too bad your words mean nothing to me.” She clenched her teeth staring into Suyin’s eyes. “You’re wasting your time telling me…” She dragged Suyin to her. “Show me.”

Yanking her into a rough kiss, Kuvira locked the hand holding the gun around Suyin’s back, feeling her struggle within her grasp.

Suyin fought against Kuvira’s strength; her arms outstretched, trying to push Kuvira back; her fingers digging into Kuvira’s upper chest, grabbing and twisting the skin beneath the wet shirt. She could feel Kuvira’s muscles flexing harder and stronger, fighting to maintain her hold even as they started to give into fatigue.

With a jerk, Kuvira grabbed the back of Suyin’s head and forced her tongue into other woman’s mouth. She smiled into the kiss, feeling Suyin’s hands loosen on her skin, and begin to pull on her shirt.

Forgetting how to breathe, Bataar’s breath caught in his throat.

Opal’s stomach sank to the floor.

Huan tried to contain a smile.

The Twins clang to the staircase railing, peering over and glancing to one another with shocked expressions.

The one thing they all had in common were wide eyes staring at the scene before them. The only one not there to witness the whole raging mess of a situation was Bataar Jr., who had moved out to attend college some thousand miles away.

Opening her eyes in the kiss, Suyin waited a second then bit down hard onto Kuvira’s tongue and shoved her away.

Wiping her mouth where she stood, Suyin watched Kuvira cry out and stumble back, doubling over with her hands on her knees as she shook off her disorientation.

“Bitch.” Kuvira spit the blood from her mouth onto the floor. Taken off guard, her breaths were heavy and the pain in her mouth great. After a moment, she looked back up to Suyin and grinned with laughter. “God you’re great.” She spit again, and lifted herself back up with a smirk. “Still putting on a show for the family, huh?"  
Kuvira wiped her mouth as she caught her breath. “Acting like you’re faking, when we both know how real that was.” She stared at Suyin, the smirk still on her face. “You love me. You love kissing me.” She lifted a finger to her lips. “You love my lips on-”

“Kuvira!” Suyin’s eyes darted around the room to the kids and Bataar, then glared back at Kuvira.

“What?” Kuvira glanced around at the others too, but still didn’t care who heard. To her they weren’t there, she was only concerned with Suyin. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell them all the rated R details.”

“Mom what’s going on?” Opal spoke up first, leaning over the staircase railing above the greeting room, voicing the thoughts everyone was silently thinking.

With a storming wave of emotions running through her mind, Suyin looked down, not hearing her daughter’s question. After that kiss, everything in her head was starting to turn to haze.

“Would you like me to also call you  _“mom”_  from now on?”

Suyin’s eyes shot up to Kuvira’s, furrowing in an instant when they saw that mocking grin. How Kuvira could’ve known about her conversation with a colleague she didn’t know. That exchange had taken place about a month after Kuvira had left.

That was Suyin’s way of coping with the loss of her beloved assistant. She just distanced herself.

“Since I heard you seemed to have reduced me, to nothing more than a daughter.” Kuvira looked up at Opal, giving a half-hearted shrug. “No offense.”

“Kuvira what happened betwe-”

“You couldn’t bear to see the relationship for what it really was, so you pawned it off as some mother-daughter bond.” Kuvira began to pace in front of Suyin.

Now it was all out in the open.

The kiss could’ve still been explained off as an action done out of obsession. And Suyin could’ve painted Kuvira as the one who was crazy and obsessed about her.

“After everything we’ve been through, and done, there’s no way you can pass me off as that–in fact it’s not even morally right. Am I wrong?” Kuvira stopped and locked her eyes with Suyin’s, watching the woman glare and bite her inner lip.

“I know you’re lying to yourself in there…” Kuvira gestured with the gun, tapping against the side of her own head. “…telling yourself that kiss meant nothing to you, right?”

Suyin tightened her jaw, readying herself to lash out, but her husband beat her to it.

“Kuvira leave her alone.” Bataar spoke up, watching his wife look down at the ground, while he acted like he hadn’t seen Suyin’s face relaxing into that kiss between her and Kuvira.

Kuvira turned around to him. “You know, I actually feel sorry for you...” She looked over her shoulder at Suyin, running her eyes down the older woman’s body. “Your wife is guiltier than you think.” She looked back to Bataar, with a smug grin. “That’s too bad…you haven’t done anything wrong, you just have a shitty wife.” Kuvira turned her back to his furrowing brow and shook her head at Suyin as she slowly approached the other woman. “Great Woman…Shitty wife.” Kuvira stopped her advance and began to circle Suyin, eyeing her as an animal does its prey.

Put on the spot, Suyin heard every one of Kuvira’s slick steps as a piercing sound coming out of the silence. She stared down at the ground slightly wide-eyed, not being able to fathom what was happening.

Kuvira stopped behind Suyin, and lightly pressed the gun into the lawyer’s lower back. “I can tell you about every curve…” She started as Suyin’s head shot up, feeling Kuvira’s faint breaths behind her neck.

“…and the feel of her body, down to the marks only you should know about.” Kuvira dragged the gun up, then dropped it from Suyin’s back and finished her circle, moving until she was in front of Suyin, once again looking into those jade eyes.

Suyin stared at the unrelenting woman; her eyes pleading for her not to say anything more, but Kuvira just smirked and took a few steps back.

Now it was too late for Suyin to back out. She couldn’t deny her part in it all, even to save herself. The evidence Kuvira had divulged was too incriminating, in fact, it was a smoking gun.

Suyin spared a glance over to Bataar, wondering what was going through his mind as he stared at the floor. Then, her gaze shifted down to where Kuvira’s shoes had left muddy, wet prints on the white marble. She didn’t dare look up to where her children were; she was too ashamed. It was hurting her knowing she was hurting her family.

However, she’d been given plenty of opportunities to back out of her relationship with Kuvira, but never did.

Today the consequences all caught up to her, punishing her with sheer irony, as everything was revealed by the one person she trusted confidentiality to the most.

And Kuvira had no amount of mercy; continuing on despite physically watching Suyin unravel from the inside out.

Suyin tried to tune out her incriminating words, but the longer it went on, the more explicit Kuvira got.

What was next? Suyin hesitated to wonder. Would Kuvira inform everybody about the step-by-step processes of their sex life? It was obvious to her the moment Kuvira started talking that she wasn’t thinking straight. So it was up to Suyin to put a stop to it, and soon.

Kuvira glanced back to Bataar’s disturbed widened eyes staring back at her, she gave him a darkened laugh before turning to Suyin. “So go ahead _mom_ …tell your family the truth...” Kuvira paused swallowing the bloody remnants in her mouth. “They deserve to know.” She watched Suyin. “Tell them how many nights we spent together.” Her face dropped into an angry scowl. “…and tell them how many times you’ve **_lied_**.”

From the staircase, Opal stared down at her mom. The wide-eyed surprise she held before, had drowned into a gaze of disappointment. She wanted to do nothing but look away. And that’s what she did.

“Come on…Get it all off your chest…” Kuvira pushed aggressively, provoking Suyin, and taking a small amount of pleasure from watching her struggle with the shame. “No more secrets, isn’t that what you told me you w-”

“Shut Up!”

The whole house seemed to jump when Suyin yelled, tired and fed up with Kuvira ruthlessly tearing down everything she created.

Kuvira’s body stilled and her eyes stared into Suyin’s as the room fell into a tension-filled silence.

Their eyes locked in a standoff, brows furrowed and lips set in contempt.

In that moment, Suyin could say she truly hated Kuvira, holding so much enmity for the vindictive monster Kuvira had brought into the house; her apparent goal being nothing more than retribution.

“Suyin?” Bataar was the first to break the silence between the two women. His mouth hung open, but he couldn’t form the words he wanted to speak. He looked down trying to think; a simple task that suddenly seemed so much harder. “She’s not lying…is she?” He gazed back up to Suyin’s face that had turned away with narrowed eyes.

“Her face should tell you enough.” Kuvira looked over to Bataar, answering his question where Suyin left only a guilty silence. “When you were gone, it was like she’d never taken a vow.” Kuvira’s eyes drifted back to Suyin. “She practically dragged me into your bedroom the first chance she got.”

“Mom.” Opal scoffed in disgust.

“Kuvira please…just…stop.” Overwhelmed, Suyin closed her eyes, took a breath, and opened them again looking at Kuvira with a semblance of defeat.

She was being torn apart.

“Why?” Kuvira paused, her face growing serious. “Are you afraid I’m going to say something to ruin your perfect life?”

“You already have.” Suyin replied softly.

“…and I should care because?” Kuvira said with a sarcastic amused smile momentarily plastering itself on her face, before it faded into a frown, as she watched Suyin’s eyes begin to water.

Suyin stayed silent, not believing the person she possibly loved the most, could hurt her so bad. Had the person standing in front of her been anyone but Kuvira, the situation would have been over before it could even reach this point. But looking into those deep green eyes tempted the woman into breaking her strength.

Don’t do this to me, was all she wanted to say to Kuvira, but Suyin knew there was no point.

“It hurts doesn’t it?” Kuvira watched tears fall from Suyin’s eyes. “No…you don’t get to cry.” Her eyes darted over Suyin’s face as she felt guilt being drawn into her. But before those weakening emotions could take her over, she steeled her jaw and furrowed her brow, keeping her resolve. “So quit it.” Kuvira idly pointed the gun in Suyin’s direction. This time the lawyer didn’t move, or even flinch as the gun was brought to her eye level. “I didn’t feel bad when I left you...and I don’t feel bad now.” Kuvira lied to herself. “You ruined  _my_  life…a long time ago.”

Their eyes connected as the room and its inhabitants faded into the background, leaving nothing but the hostile space between them.

“Thinking you could sleep with me over and over, then leave everything as though nothing happened…was your biggest mistake.” Leaning her weight into her more stable foot, Kuvira glanced down, making small body adjustments as needed to maintain her balance. “I ended up loving you…”

The world seemed to stop as Suyin listened to Kuvira’s words. No matter the hate she had, it wasn’t easy to witness how much Kuvira had fallen apart; she still loved her too.

“God…” Kuvira broke the silence with a frustrated growl through clenched teeth. “You had me so fooled.” She furrowed her brow at the ground, beginning to feel her eyes burn. “I didn’t even realize I had fallen in love with lies.” Kuvira looked up at Suyin with livid but wounded stare, as the malice began to drip into the words she spoke. “I waited for you…and every time you chose him-”

“Kuvira you knew I couldn-”

“It tore me apart.”

Suyin closed her mouth seeing pain seep into Kuvira’s eyes.

“I loved you more.” Kuvira pointed at herself. “I put my _life_ on the line for you.”

“Kuvira, I-I didn’t know…” Suyin looked down. That was probably the stupidest thing she could’ve said. She knew very well how Kuvira felt about her; the younger woman never hesitated to throw those three words into her face. And it ate away at her a little more each time she did. To see Kuvira so confident and invested in the relationship made her fill with guilt; not because she was ashamed of being with her, but rather because she knew it wasn’t long term. She had already promised herself from the very beginning that she wouldn’t let it last. To her the affair would be no more than that, a small, short-lived affair.

“Bull shit!” Kuvira shot back raising her voice once more. “You knew…”

Kuvira caught her lie.

“…because I told you all the time.” She looked down. “Even as angry as I got at you for never saying anything back. I still made sure you knew…every time.” Kuvira looked up at Suyin, her voice lowering. “I’m sure you were glad after I left.” She broke her eyes away from Suyin and glanced aimlessly around the room. “You seemed to get over me pretty fast.”

Using her free hand, Kuvira gestured to herself for the sake of added effect. “No more Kuvira to complicate things. No more conflicted feelings. No more…lies and hiding.” She used Suyin’s own words from the past against her. “N-”

“No! You walked out on me.” Suyin finally lashed out, her words confirming it all. “Stop acting like what you’ve done to yourself is my fault. I didn’t make you leave.”

“What?” Appalled, Kuvira tightened her hand around the gun and shifted her focus back to Suyin. “Is that what you’ve convinced yourself?” Kuvira paced forward, jerking the gun towards her chest. “That it was my fault for leaving?”

Kuvira shoved the gun in Suyin’s direction as her anger skyrocketed.

“You were the one coming onto me!” She yelled then paused, watching Suyin’s tears fall from her eyes again. “ _You_ came to me. _You_ pushed me into the bedroom. _You_ locked me into your office…” Kuvira took a deep breath and looked down at Suyin’s lips. “You, kissed me first…” She said, her voice relaxing to a sullen tone.

The whole house had gone pin drop silent. None of them had ever heard Kuvira yell before, and with a voice as robust as hers, it was a scary thing to witness.

Bringing the gun down, Kuvira set her focus to the ground, having a moment to herself before she looked back up. “Tell me…” She started soft, almost sounding defeated. “How many nights did you spend with me, only to come back and sleep with him to rid yourself of that guilty feeling?”

“Kuvira it wasn’t-“

“Don’t even tell me it wasn’t like that.”

Kuvira scoffed and turned her back to Suyin, walking aimlessly forward. “I wouldn’t believe you anyways. Not at this point.” Her eyes met Bataar’s morose figure, leaning against the wall next to the door, as he kept his gaze down. “What do you care if you ruin my life?” There was a pause left in the air. “You were willing to ruin his...” Kuvira turned and stared silently into Suyin’s eyes; her own eyes deadening into vacancy. “Now that’s not fair Suyin…you can’t play with people like that.” Kuvira lifted the gun, holding it at Suyin with renewed intent. “I’ve waited too long…and won’t anymore.”


	3. The Catch

**A.N. Part 3**    
**\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**  
**_Previously: Kuvira lifted the gun, holding it at Suyin with renewed intent. "I've waited too long…and won't anymore."_**    
**\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**  
**The Catch**    
**\--------------**

Gaining her courage, Suyin moved past Kuvira without looking at her, and slowly approached Bataar. She lifted his head up and looked into the tears present in even his eyes.

"I'm so sorry." Suyin hesitated but laid her hands on his chest.

"She isn't lying…"

"No." Suyin looked down and shook her head.

Suyin looked up back into Bataar's eyes, she could see the "why?" inside of them, along with the past they'd shared together. After almost twenty years, he should have held priority over Kuvira; he was still her husband.

Fire erupted within Kuvira, watching Suyin choose Bataar over her again. She stood, seething from the inside as her eyes twisted into darkness.

"Bataar, take the kids and get out of here." Suyin said, sensing the oncoming danger.

"I still love you."

Suyin silently touched his cheek and nodded, saying nothing back. She needed to get everyone out of the house in order to really talk to Kuvira, and she knew he'd still listen to her.

She may have not been his reason at the moment, but the kids were. They didn't need to see what was coming.

Kuvira smirked. "Yeah, your wife and I have a lot of catching up to do." Her eyes flattened into a glare.

Bataar went to make a short lunge towards Kuvira, but Suyin held onto his upper arms, stopping him in his tracks. She knew he was thinking with his heart and not his mind. Even someone as smart as him, could fall prey to irrationality. To him Kuvira was the problem he wanted gone.

"Bataar." Suyin looked at him with saddening eyes that still managed to show a semblance of strength and courage among the fear. "Don't. She's trying to piss you off." She looked back over to Kuvira. "Just take the kids, I'll manage."

"No I'm not leaving yo-"

"Better listen to your wife." Kuvira pulled back the hammer of the gun resting by her side.

Watching Bataar's eyebrows knit together, and his eyes shift into Kuvira's direction, Suyin squeezed his arms to calm him down. Bataar wasn't a fighter, knew little about what her job really entailed, and unlike her, didn't know what Kuvira was capable of. He was just a gentle man and a great spouse; so much more than she could say for herself.

Suyin didn't know how much accuracy the drunken former assistant would maintain if she fired the gun. All that was certain was that Kuvira didn't hesitate to shoot, and that was dangerous enough.

"Bataar…" Suyin waited until she had his attention. "Let me do this, please. Let me fix it. The kids don't need to be involved." She glanced down again. "We can…talk about it later."

Bataar turned his head to the front door close by once, then looked again to his wife, watching her give a light nod. With an underhanded sigh, he looked up to the eyes gazing down from the top of the staircase. "Come on guys."

"Wait are you serious? We're not just gonna leave mom." Huan was the first to protest.

"What if she gets killed?" Then the twins.

Bataar looked down into Suyin's eyes, as she read his own worrying concerns.

"I'll be fine."

"Suyin-"

"Don't call the police either. We don't need a ruined reputation too."

Bataar wrenched out of her grip, and moved away without giving her a second glance, passive aggressively respecting her wishes…even though he didn't have to; his unfaithful wife really didn't deserve it.

Suyin continued to watch him as he opened the door for the kids that were obediently making their way down the staircase. Before they could look into her eyes, she turned her head back over to Kuvira, watching to make sure the mildly deranged woman didn't try to take any vengeance out on them. She knew Kuvira wasn't that kind of person, but at the moment, she really couldn't be sure. Though from what she saw, Kuvira wasn't even paying any attention to them. Instead, the younger woman had tilted her head back and closed her eyes; she was already lost in her own world.

Once all four kids met Bataar by the door, he turned back to give Suyin one last look before he left, but was heartbroken to see her focusing on Kuvira.

"Go on." Bataar softly ordered them out through the open door. The boys looked over to their mother, and Opal turned back to glance at Kuvira as they all filed out.

When Suyin went to look back, they were gone. She walked up to the door left slightly ajar. Maybe Bataar did that so she could escape too. Suyin smiled but pressed the door all the way closed. Resting her forehead against the wood she took in a breath.

She had to deal with Kuvira first.

Just thinking of her name made her brow furrow.

"How dare you come into my house like this?" She asked out loud without getting a response.

"I thought I was welcomed."

"Not like this." Suyin looked over her shoulder before fully turning around. "What did you expect to come from this?" She took a few slow steps in Kuvira's direction and stopped.

"Us."

Suyin broke into a laugh. "You think I still want to be with you, after all this damage you've caused?" She shook her head, but couldn't say no. "This is my family Kuvira. They mean more to me than a relationship I can't even afford to have." She paused. "I can't lose them."

"But you can lose me?"

Suyin glanced to the floor. "If that's what it takes."

Kuvira slowly opened her eyes and looked down from the ceiling. That was Suyin's first strike.

"That's what's going to have to happen, in order for our lives to go back to normal-"

"Stop lying to yourself, you know they won't."

"They will…over time." Suyin softly refuted.

"You want me to leave then…So you can continue your life with that bitch of a man?"

"He has done more for me than you ever could." Her words sliced into Kuvira.

That was strike two.

Kuvira turned, only giving Suyin a side long view of her body. "What? Give you kids?" She grinned.

"Bataar has been with me long before I knew you." Suyin stepped closer, slightly offended by Kuvira's laugh. "Did you just expect me to leave him, everything I had, and my kids for you?"

Turning away, the amusement drowned from Kuvira's face. Sparks flew through her racing heart; the heavy breaths coming from her nose growing erratic as she gazed down.

"You are the outlier in this situation."

She unwillingly listened to Suyin's words.

"I would never abandon him, and it was stupid of you to ever think so."

Strike three. Kuvira's eyes widened with rage, the only thing she saw was red. So much so that she hardly paid attention to Suyin's next words.

"I may love you, but I can't do that."

Kuvira rapidly turned around and fired a shot Suyin's way; the bullet going straight through the door behind the older woman's shocked face. With her expression softening, Kuvira lowered the gun and looked away.

_'She shot at me.'_ Suyin stared, frozen in wide-eyed disbelief, wondering what would've happened had the shot not missed. What would Kuvira have done if she'd killed her?

One thing Suyin had learned about her assistant, Kuvira never shot to miss.

But this time, she'd taken it too far. She fired on the one person she cared about most, without even thinking. Kuvira could blame that on the alcohol inhibiting her rational mind. But really, it was Suyin's aggressive words that made her snap; hitting her with harsh realities she didn't want to hear.

"Kuvira?"

Kuvira heard Suyin's softened voice call her name, but was already too far gone. She was drawing herself away and distancing from reality. The woman in front of her could no longer be recognized as only the woman she loved, but who she deserved.

After willingly sacrificing everything for Suyin just to be toyed with in the end; it was only fair that Suyin deserved to be hers. And if she couldn't have her, nobody would.

Kuvira went numb, slowly raising her head as she lifted the gun back up to Suyin. In the stilled silence a stray drop of water slid from Kuvira's forehead, down the length of her nose and to the ground, as her narrowed eyes drifted over to Suyin. "That's not gonna work for me."

"You don't have a choice."

Kuvira locked her jaw and began to advance towards Suyin, step by step.

Suyin glanced behind Kuvira, towards the hallway she had just been standing in, mentally devising a plan.

"You see, I have so much stuck in my head that I can't just erase everything." Kuvira's words came out even more aggressive than before, taking on a low feral like growl. She was either at the breaking point, or already broken.

Backing up one foot after the other, Suyin put her bet on the latter of the two. She never let her eyes stray from Kuvira's, watching the pain in the young woman's eyes disappear into a void. "Kuvira-"

"They're driving me insane Suyin." Kuvira's tone softened a touch. "Everything…All these memories, all these feelings. And now all this pain that's come from loving you."

On instinct, Suyin's eyes darted down to the gun after watching Kuvira's finger move back towards the trigger.

"Kuvira don't do this." Suyin moved along the wall, passing front of a second hallway that sat opposite the staircase.

The cranking of the gun's hammer sounded again as Kuvira slowly entered the darker main hallway with Suyin, gradually shrouding her face into shadows as they moved out of the immediate light.

"We can still be together."

True fear bolted into Suyin's chest, hearing Kuvira's gruff voice begin to pan out into a drone. She moved further back into the hallway and lifted her hand to the wall by her side, formulating a plan in her head. From there Suyin gazed up to the light fixture hanging in the entrance room behind Kuvira.

_'The lights. If I can get it dark, I can make a run for it.'_

She slid her hand up the wall searching for the light switch while staying focused on Kuvira. "Think about what you're doing Kuvira-"

"That's what got me here in the first place."

Finally feeling the familiar light switch, Suyin flicked it down in one quick motion, hoping that in darkness she'd have a chance.

And she was right.

Out of habit–maybe luck–Kuvira's head turned back to the greeting room behind her. That was when Suyin shoved her down, and made her break, scrambling as quiet as possible into the nearby kitchen.

The hallway she'd fled from opened into the living room. Kuvira would spot her easy if the kitchen lights stayed on.

_'Damnit I should've taken the gun.'_  Skidding past the black cabinets and light-wash marble counter tops, Suyin went straight for the knife rack beside the gas stove. She cut the remaining lights off, cringing as she listened to the gun scrap across the floor, guessing Kuvira was already recovering and getting back to her feet.

"Suyin?"

Adrenaline began to pump through Suyin's veins, picking up the already fast pace of her beating heart. Hearing Kuvira's voice get closer to the right side of the grand kitchen that looked out into the open living room space, Suyin slid a knife from the rack.

"Where did you go?"

Kuvira's voice put her on edge; sounding raw and frightening whenever she spoke in that mocking half-drunk almost half-crazed manner. All Suyin could do was wait, until she could judge the next move to make.

"Making me lose my  **fucking shit Suyin** …" Kuvira's voice turned, again becoming more aggressive, as it echoed through the hallway like a roar. "And it's all your fault…" Her voice softened, but was still livid.

By the matte-finish silver sink, Suyin froze with her hands on the rim.  _'This isn't happening…'_  She looked down into the sink, staring at the dishes she'd been washing earlier. Hearing Kuvira's steps coming down the hallway, confirmed her realizations that yes…it was really happening.

That dark *clack, clack* sound of Kuvira's boots on the marble floor, drove her mind into an anxious fury. She knew those boots well; they were Kuvira's favorite.

Designed for motorcyclists, they were made of tough black leather, with a strong, but worn frame that followed the contour of the foot, from the heel to the angular toe that just barely turned up in a rounded point. The hidden heavy leather-padded steel toe and heel always made them so god-awfully heavy, Suyin thought. But Kuvira would start a war over the shoes before she ever gave them up, that much she knew.

The familiar sound of the heel hitting the floor was always enough to announce Kuvira's presence in the house. Normally the noise from her boots meshed into the welcoming sensible chaos of an average day in the Beifong household.

The television running in the background no one paid attention to, the kids voices scattered throughout, dinner cooking in the kitchen, and Bataar's vocal frustrations over a new project in the downstairs office, had all been part of this environment Suyin had introduced to Kuvira years ago.

When the family heard Kuvira come into the house with Suyin, most came out or passed by, saying their hellos; only diving into small talk during the brief moments Suyin left her side.

But now with Suyin hiding in the kitchen amongst the dead silence, the haunting sound from Kuvira's boots slowly striking the tiles were the only thing she heard reverberating throughout the house; bouncing off the walls and corners to make Kuvira's location all the more ambiguous, and her presence even more foreboding.

"Don't make me search this whole goddamn house for you. I won't be happy if I have to."

Suyin crouched down and shrunk against the cabinets with an 8-inch chef's blade in hand, attempting to blend into the darkness. To her right, Kuvira's zombie-like figure stepped into her peripheral vision. She turned her head, briefly scanning over Kuvira's wet appearance. Her clothes had begun to dry. They were no longer dripping with water as they had been before. The gun was now by her side, and Kuvira pushed her drying bangs out of her face, keeping nothing in the way of her eyes so they could search for Suyin.

Trying hard to keep her shaking breaths quiet, Suyin inched back towards the darkest part of the kitchen, where the cabinets met in an L shape.

But the temporary hiding spot was only sufficient for a few minutes–maybe less if she wasn't lucky.

Kuvira only had to turn her head left to spot Suyin from the hallway.

She had to move; quickly and quietly.

A moment longer passed, and her eyes were still locked onto Kuvira as she wasted time to watch –frozen in disbelieving awe– the woman standing in the hall.

Seemingly in good control of the slight sways fighting to take over her body, Kuvira's blank eyes scanned the living room in search of her target.

Any other way Suyin would have been overjoyed to watch Kuvira come back, but not like this.

With the end of a relationship, love could feel as dark and painful as death. Some would even argue that love is death in another form.

However long it takes, moments of mourning eventually fade. People learn to cope; their lives move on.

But when a true love walks out of your life, the same feelings of loss remain constant, as the bond is never really broken.

Suyin wasn't a crier. But she cried on and off for days after Kuvira left.

Reminding herself of her responsibilities was how she pulled out of it all, and attempted to move on.

There was no use in crying for what was dead; tears wouldn't bring Kuvira back. That fact was made into harsh reality when Suyin watched –eyes watering in distress– as the other woman pried her hand from the wrist it had latched onto with a furrowed brow.

That was the same day her and Kuvira had come back to an empty house; Bataar having taken the rest of the family out with her permission, knowing she'd be late from the office again.

They took advantage of what time they had alone; Suyin leading Kuvira upstairs to the master bedroom, with every intent to dominate what came next. The few moments of passion Suyin roped them into, with a lusted kiss and hands that wandered under the assistant's clothes, came to an abrupt end when Kuvira pushed her away.

A furnace of frustration had been slowly festering within her over time, and finally it all became too much for Kuvira to handle; that was evident from the conflict on her face.

_"Is this going anywhere Suyin?"_

After that was said, the rest of the night and their relationship were doomed to fail. It didn't take Suyin long to get the message Kuvira was trying to send. She wanted more from her than Suyin was willing to give.

In her forty-five years of life, watching Kuvira leave was one of the hardest things she'd ever seen.

She'd been shot at, seen other people shot at, heard murder confessions that should've only come from a horror movie, and seen bodies that looked so bad they were unrecognizable. Her job had prepared her for so much, but watching leave was the worst knot in her stomach she’d ever felt, it left a sour taste in her mouth. That night she just stood on the porch, watching Kuvira speed off, and then long after that.

Inside was where she broke, sliding down the wall and crying in the same hallway a different Kuvira stood in now.

Months had passed, and Suyin was just beginning to feel success in leaving the past behind. Until in a twist of events, Kuvira had reappeared in a much worse state than herself. And finally Suyin saw that she wasn't the only one suffering.

An overwhelming confusion of emotions came over her when she stopped dead in her tracks, staring at Kuvira's tormented self by the front door.

Looking down that hall into the indescribable void of Kuvira's eyes, Suyin felt surprise, relief, and fear.

She was surprised to see Kuvira suddenly turn up after vanishing for so many weeks. She felt relief that Kuvira was still ok, even if "ok" was a loose term to use. But there was also fear looking into those eyes staring back at her, proving that not all had been forgotten.

To Kuvira, things were as fresh as the day they'd happened.

But even then, with all the threats Kuvira made, and the relationship she blatantly exposed, a darker side of Suyin still wanted her; the side that took to loving Kuvira in the first place; the one that didn't care who she hurt. She would keep Kuvira in the end, whatever happened, and no matter how.

Suyin had a lock over Kuvira; a hold over her so strong and tight it drove Kuvira mad.

That control was something Suyin prided on, and now felt conflictingly guilty over, seeing how far it had pushed Kuvira –the assistant she had come to love– to her limit.

Suyin didn't want to admit that Kuvira had just as much of a stake in her heart, but she did.

She might have not known it, but she did.

Standing her ground with Kuvira, Suyin made sure she always had the upper hand of control in one way or another. She was still the Boss and Kuvira, still the assistant. Letting Kuvira get complacent in the relationship they had would have been a mistake. So Suyin kept her close, kept her guessing, and kept her waiting.

Somewhere Suyin slipped.

She became the complacent one, feeling as though Kuvira was too strung up over her to ever leave. Her mistake was brushing off Kuvira's frustrated concerns and wants for the relationship.

Suyin was driving Kuvira down into quick sand without realizing it, and Kuvira wasn't about to drown without a fight, even if it drove her crazy.

"You know how much I love you Suyin. What's there to hide from?" Kuvira called out, her boots squelching under her as she turned with a slow pivot into Suyin's direction.

_'Shit'_

Watching Kuvira start to turn, Suyin moved in a low crouch to the kitchen island across from her and out of Kuvira's line of sight; thankful she had only socks covering her feet.

Kuvira's steps entered the kitchen, her eyes searching the corner Suyin had just moved from.

_One._

_Two._

_Three._

_Four._

Suyin pressed her back further against the kitchen island, counting Kuvira's steps in her mind before they suddenly stopped. After a few silent moments, a deep groan of irritation came from right above her.

Kuvira's footsteps sounded again, louder and closer this time, before gradually fading and growing distant. Suyin sighed, letting out the tension filled breath that had locked inside of her tightening lungs. So close to being spotted more adrenaline had surged through Suyin's veins, making her heart race from the suspense.

"Suyin!"

Kuvira's voice startled her again.

"Quit playing around…You're only pissing me off."

_'She's in the hallway.'_ Suyin took in a breath, trying to steady herself. Physically her body felt so tired, but the fear pumping through her kept her awake, in a constant state of distress. After her long day at the office, she was never expecting it to end with her fearing for her life, protecting herself from the same woman she loved.

Every second time ticked by, they got closer to the inevitable moment they'd finally meet. Suyin was just hoping she'd get to Kuvira first, before the other woman found her.

Taking a chance, Suyin peeled herself away from the island cabinets and turned around on her toes. One hand reached up to grab the edge of the counter top…the other housing the knife, mistakenly missed, hitting the power button on the television remote nearby.

Springing to life, the wall mounted television blasted the evening news.

"Shit." Suyin felt chills run down her back.

A dark laugh followed sending more chills through her.

Kuvira smirked, looking from the T.V. into the hallway to her left. "Distracting me won't work." Kuvira reached down; her hands grabbing for her shoes as she swayed in her balance. Picking her foot up from the ground, the dizzying haze took over and she fell, collapsing on her side with a crash to the floor that made Suyin jump. Her gun slid across the floor and hit the baseboard down the hall, bouncing from the wall.

With her head swimming, Kuvira rolled onto her back, looking up at a blurry ceiling as her mind slowly brought the image back into focus. She groaned rolling over onto her hands and knees, before picking herself back up with slow coordination. She stood, twisting her back to relieve a crick in her side. Walking to the wall where the gun lay, she looked down and with a sigh put her back against it, sliding down until she sat beside the gun with her knees propped up.

Kuvira lifted her head, staring down an alternate hallway.

The setting, fit to be in a horror movie, wrapped around the kitchen, its walkway almost dark as black. Spots of blue light appeared on the floor in patches from the windows inside the open rooms along either side of the corridor. Not taking her eyes away from the hallway, Kuvira started unbuckling her shoes; she had an idea of where to search next.

Standing with damp feet, she picked up the gun from next to the wet socks she'd taken off, and stuck it haphazardly into the waistband of her Jeans.

Hearing nothing but television noise, Suyin took in her shaky breaths, exhaling slow to calm her nerves. Getting herself worked up into an emotional frenzy would only inhibit her rational thinking, and she needed that right now, if she was going to outsmart Kuvira.

Even with the television on, there was still an eerie silence; one devoid of any human life. Gone were the thumping footsteps and faint chatter of her children's voices that she was so accustomed to.

Suyin peeked over the island counter again, making sure not to touch anything besides the countertop.

Kuvira had disappeared. She couldn't see her, hear her footsteps, or even feel her presence. There was nothing but that unsettling silence.

_'She could be anywhere.'_  Suyin swallowed the lump in her throat, and turned around. Softly pressing her back to the cabinets, she slid down and sat; her eyes staring over to the Kitchen's second entrance in front of her, illuminated only by the light from the television beaming into the hallway across from her.

Suyin tilted her head back and closed her eyes as a trail of tears fell from each corner. If Kuvira had really lost it, too much alcohol wasn't really to blame, she was. Giving Kuvira hope in a relationship between them was a cruel way to lead her on.

Suyin tried to distance herself at one point in time, knowing that what she was doing was wrong. But time and time again she kept getting drawn back in. There was something magnetic about the younger woman that kept making Suyin break her promises. And in the end, it was because she couldn't let go that had brought them to where they were now.

Suyin opened her eyes to the same view as before. Wiping her face, she collected herself and slowly stood.  _'I can't hide here forever.'_

Inching step by step in the dark, Suyin tentatively walked to the right side of the kitchen, to the hallway she'd just seen Kuvira standing in. She approached the main entrance, keeping her back to the other one. With the knife locked tight within her grip, she stopped. Peering into the hallway, she could hear herself breathing in and out through her nose.

From the entry way, she stepped out further, looking both ways down the hall, taking notice of everything but the shadow standing behind her.

Catching a glimpse of Kuvira's shoes left on the floor, she backed up; her eyes going wide.

Not another moment passed before she ran into two cold arms that pulled her in; the hands locking themselves around her waist.

Suyin froze as a hand reached out, snaking along her arm. It moved over her hand, and twisted with force, slowly wrenching the knife from her fingers. Seconds later, She watched the knife hit the floor; her hope going with it.

"Relax, I can feel your heart beating." The low voice laughed under its breath as Kuvira's mouth came close to Suyin's ear. "I told you you couldn't hide."  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	4. Chapter 4

**A.N. PART-4 ;)**    
**\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**    
**_Previously: "Relax, I can feel your heart beating." The low voice laughed under its breath as Kuvira's mouth came close to Suyin's ear. "I told you you couldn't hide."_** _  
_**\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Kuvira pushed her face into the side of Suyin's neck. Taking in the lawyer's sweet smell, she tightened her grip around the woman in her arms. "I've really missed you." She looked up, her eyes staring out into the hallway.

As they stood in place, Suyin slowly started to relax. Her mind was conflicted, but it was still Kuvira. She loved these arms, loved their warmth and strong embrace. But now she felt trapped, waiting for Kuvira's next move. Thinking of a plan to escape was useless; her best bet was to show Kuvira she wasn't a threat.

Feeling Kuvira's wet clothes soaking through to her back, sending small shudders through her body, Suyin slowly turned around coming face to face with the other woman's dilated eyes.

Kuvira was just looking at her, staring down half-dazed.

Is this all Kuvira wanted, to cause reckless commotion, just so they could stand in each other's arms again?

Suyin looked down at the small space between their bodies. Maybe in the surge of adrenaline she hadn't realized she was already dying, bleeding as life slowly and unknowingly drained from her. But as far as she could see, she hadn't been shot. Kuvira was still just holding onto her, the gun wasn't even in her hand.

Suyin looked back up into those glazed eyes. Her rational mind once again started to grow irrational as she remembered everything that had transpired over an hour ago, and all the damage that had been done. Thanks to Kuvira, everything between them had been revealed to not only Bataar, but even worse, to her kids. As a mother first, that fact didn't sit well with her. The kids didn't deserve to find out like that, if at all. They didn't need to know their mother's sins.

Without a second thought, Suyin slapped Kuvira across the face, in what was really an attempt to bring her back to her senses. Looking at the reddening side of Kuvira's face with a furrowed brow, Suyin watched her take a deep breath as she looked back over. There was something different about Kuvira's eyes now, the more obvious effect of her slap being rage. In short, Suyin made a mistake, angering the wild animal that had been caged within her grasp, running through her never-ending maze for so long.

Kuvira let out a growl, hoisting Suyin up from the ground and over her shoulder before the older woman even had time to process everything happening. With her bare feet Kuvira walked back towards the front door, this time taking the stairs off to the side. "How does it feel, going back to where it all started?"

Knowing it was a rhetorical question, Suyin attempted to lift herself up; her hands grabbing into Kuvira's wet shirt, bunching it within her fists for leverage as she pushed up. Before she could even look back to where they were going, Kuvira walked into a room and threw her down onto a bed.

Taken back by Kuvira's sudden action, Suyin laid in place on the sheets, recovering the air that had been knocked out of her by surprise. She looked around her bedroom -familiar to her even in the darkness, then up to Kuvira's shadow looming silently by the bed side, watching her from above.

"What do you want Kuvira?" Suyin sighed, putting her hands over her eyes and running them down her face. She was getting irritated with Kuvira's hot and cold game, wanting nothing but to move past it all. First she wanted to kill her, now she wanted to stare. Suyin just about had it. Removing her hands, she watched Kuvira move away into the blue-ish silver light at the foot of the bed, filtering in through room's oversized window.

"I never really paid attention to this room." Kuvira spoke, keeping her back to Suyin. "You did a good job of occupying most of my time." She lifted her head, glancing around from the grand walk-in closet to the personal knick-knacks sitting on both nightstands beside the bed. When she focused back to the bed she found herself turned, and her eyes meeting Suyin. The woman wasn't looking at her, just gazing into the ceiling.

Kuvira came back around to the bed's side, staring down at Suyin's body, letting her eyes trail away from her face to her thighs.

Still being relatively young, Kuvira never bothered to think about the kind of person she'd want to spend her life with. And with alcohol running through her blood she sure wasn't thinking rationally about life long commitments.

All she knew, was that as she climbed over Suyin, everything felt right.

Feeling Kuvira move in between her legs, Suyin sat up on her elbows, watching her lower half get spread apart via the knees pushing against her thighs. "Kuvira." She warned.

"Shh." Kuvira abruptly cut her off and shook her head, placing a hand on Suyin's chest. Sitting back into her heels above Suyin's body, Kuvira pushed her back down rather forcefully, making it clear she was in control.

To say it wasn't a turn on, Suyin would've lied.

Looking down at Suyin with a bout of longing sadness reaching her eyes, Kuvira touched Suyin's face softly; her fingers finding solace as they trailed along the warmth of the older woman's skin. "You're beautiful." She said just loud enough to be heard.

Her hand travelled down to Suyin's shoulder; the pain in her eyes succumbing to greedy desire.

Suyin watched Kuvira's every move as her own hand reached out, finding the base of one of Kuvira's Knees before she let it slide up the woman's thigh. The tactics behind that hand's placement were smarter than they looked. It gave Kuvira the illusion Suyin was playing along; but it would also be able to push her away, creating distance in the event Kuvira truly lost her mind.

"I like this shirt."

Suyin's full attention was brought back to Kuvira as she felt her shirt at its shoulder being drawn into Kuvira's hand.

"It's my favorite." Kuvira pulled a little. "It looks just as good on you as it does off."

Suyin's eyes slightly widened, watching Kuvira's mouth stretch apart into a grin. Mistakenly moving one of her legs, Suyin soon found a shin over her lower thigh, trying to trap her in.

At that point she should have taken advantage of Kuvira's easy to topple position and shoved her over, making an escape out from underneath her while she still had a chance. Suyin glanced over to the door as realization dawned on her that she didn't want to do it; she didn't want to leave. Turning her head, Suyin's gaze set onto the hand resting on Kuvira's thigh.

Her finger tips, already latching onto Kuvira, were only further proof that she still couldn't let go.

Suyin's face changed, a smirk coming over her mouth as she looked back up into Kuvira's eyes. "Yeah…It's my favorite too."

Taking that as some odd form of permission, Kuvira leaned down an inch from Suyin's face with a mischievous smile stretching across her own for a second, before she seized Suyin's lips into a deep lust filled kiss.

Teeth edged the soft skin of boths' lips as the kiss became rougher.

Tasting a metallic hint of Kuvira's blood on her tongue, Suyin winced but didn't stop. Instead she pushed back, giving the younger woman the challenge she was so hungry for. Her nose drew in the musky scent of stale rainwater coming from Kuvira's clothing. One of her hands curled around Kuvira's thigh, digging into the soaked jeans, as the other went to the collar of Kuvira's shirt, pulling her in closer.

Kuvira broke away for air, burying her grinning face into Suyin's neck. "You're mine." She said through her light pants of exhaustion.

Suyin had done it again.

The kiss hadn't lasted long, but sucked almost every ounce of energy she had. Under normal, less inebriated circumstances, Kuvira wouldn't be growing as tired as she was now.

Resting the side of her face against Suyin's, Kuvira stayed silent, focusing on nothing but keeping Suyin within her grasp. Her whole body felt heavy and weighed down as the alcohol ran throughout her blood. A sedating kind of fatigue threatened to overtake her, but Kuvira would be damned to go out without a fight. If Suyin wanted a challenge, she'd give it to her.

Suyin gasped feeling Kuvira's teeth rake over the more sensitive skin of her neck. Then a hand slipped under her shirt, and the other behind her neck.

Fingertips dug their way into her lower back, making her arch as Suyin heard what she could only describe as a throaty almost primal moan next to her ear. Moments later Suyin felt Kuvira's hand drag down further, raking past her waist and to her thigh.

Suyin balled her hands into fists, as if the muscles were constricting on their own. Pulling at Kuvira's shirt and tightening her hold around Kuvira's leg, she released her sexual desire without giving away her strength as she felt the younger woman squeeze into her thigh and move inwards.

Even this inebriated version of Kuvira knew how to tease her, and well.

Lifting her head, Kuvira hovered over Suyin's face. The other hand she'd simultaneously moved from Suyin's neck to her side could feel the older woman's breaths growing faster with every rise and fall. She smiled. There was a certain tempting pleasure in itself at making Suyin submit under her control.

* * *

Suyin caught Kuvira's darker desires lurking behind her glazed eyes; it wasn't hard. The woman above her wanted everything, and ironically, didn't seem to care whether it mattered once everything was done.

This was just to be a show of power and lust, with a mixture of long overdue release for both. There were no promises of love in the end.

Kuvira kissed her again.

This time Suyin found herself growing intoxicated just by smelling and tasting Kuvira's alcohol latent breath. But oddly, this kiss was slower; lasting longer as she absently ran her hand down the front of Kuvira's soaked shirt; her body acting before her mind could catch up. She had no goals or escape plans. Even her wandering thoughts of the family had ceased. There was no capacity left to think. Suyin was slowly becoming just as far gone as Kuvira. In that moment all she wanted was to slip her fingers into Kuvira's belt loops and pull the hovering woman down, until there was no space between their bodies. But about halfway down her lusted thoughts were thwarted as her hand ran into something hard.

Opening her eyes wide into the kiss, Suyin realized it was the missing gun that –come to think of it– she hadn’t seen in a while. She investigated further, feeling its metal frame as her fingers found a grip around the handle.

An irritated growl from Kuvira halted Suyin's progress, as the woman kissing her pushed the loosening gun back down into her waistband.

Taking her shin from Suyin's thigh, Kuvira slipped her leg back in between Suyin's and fully dropped her hips. Sliding the hand on Suyin's side down, Kuvira grabbed the seam of her pants near the pocket. She pulled up on the dark jeans relentlessly with a strong grip, guiding Suyin's hips into hers. For a split second she stalled, focusing everything into the kiss, keeping Suyin guessing as to what she'd do next.

Kuvira's gripping hand let go, travelling up to the lawyer's lower back; her cold fingers softly pressing into Suyin’s skin, as she drove their hips together with a grinding force.

Suyin couldn't stifle the moan that broke into their kiss, feeling what was probably part of the gun's barrel sliding against the sensitive folds between her legs. She wanted to slap Kuvira and throw her off out of frustration. No one else really managed to make her lose herself so quickly, but Kuvira always could. Call it a special talent, but the younger woman had the ability to have her riling in under a few minutes.

_'I need to keep it together.'_ Suyin opened her eyes and gently clasped her hand around Kuvira's jaw. Pushing her back, she turned her own face to the side in order to escape the kiss. She rested a few breaths, using the brief moment to think up a new concoction of a plan, one that involved something more rational than sex. That's what her mind told her was right, not what her body felt. Suyin turned back to the silent former assistant above her, studying her face.

_'She looks so tired.'_ For some reason that thought started to make her eyes water. She raised her other hand up to Kuvira's face; her thumbs tracing over the forming dark circles under Kuvira's eyes.

Physically Kuvira was growing more exhausted as time passed, but that wasn't what caused Suyin's bout of melancholy. It was seeing the reality of her actions brought to life within the torment behind Kuvira's eyes. Then it was watching the emotions in those same eyes deadpan into nothing that really sealed her guilt.

"What?" Kuvira asked plainly a question to which Suyin shook her head.

"Nothing." Suyin gently pulled Kuvira's face back down to hers. There was only a short moment of hesitance before Suyin tenderly took the woman's lips into her own; now she had control. Her hand started to drift downward, undoing the first of Kuvira's buttons with expert dexterity. Leaving Kuvira's face, her other hand travelled lower, slowly creeping down to the loosened waistband of Kuvira's pants once more. This time there was no growl as she neared where the gun still rested. Suyin's thumb grazed across Kuvira's abdomen just before she looped her first finger around the gun's trigger guard.

She undid the second button, sliding her palm carefully around the handle, making sure it was securely within her grasp.

"What are you trying to do?" Kuvira broke the kiss and looked down into Suyin's eyes; that were managing to hide the woman’s underlying apprehension well.

"What are you talking about?" Suyin stalled with her hand frozen around the gun, hoping Kuvira hadn't realized anything, and that her question was just out of coincidence. "Hmm?"

"I've given you nothing but love, and you treat me like shit."

Suyin mentally sighed. Her fingers slowly undid the third button, as her legs wrapped around Kuvira's waist.

It was too late to tell Kuvira she had made a very bad tactical move by climbing in between Suyin's legs. But then again, alcohol wasn't known for making people think their actions through.

"Tell me you love me."

Suyin's eyes snapped to Kuvira's as she started feel fingertips tightening their grasp into her side, causing more pain than pleasure.

"Kuvira–"

With speed, Kuvira reached out and yanked Suyin up by the back of her neck to within an inch of her face. She looked down Suyin's face then back up. "Tell me."

Staring into Kuvira's eyes, Suyin saw the anger returning. She could feel it more than sense it rising as the hand behind her neck gripped tighter. This Kuvira didn't love her, she wasn't in the right frame of mind. This Kuvira just wanted confirmation through physical touch and release. The three words she wanted so badly to hear really meant nothing at this point.

As Kuvira's nails started to drag into her flesh, Suyin knew it was now or never.

She locked her feet behind Kuvira, simultaneously taking in a breath to calm her thumping heart. She couldn't mess up the one shot she had.

In a split second flash Suyin ripped the gun out from Kuvira's waistband and yanked her into its barrel with her legs.

"No." She said, looking into Kuvira's widened eyes with a furrowed brow.

Both of their chests heaved as Kuvira broke her eyes from Suyin to look between them, at the gun pressing into her abdomen. She lifted her head back up to Suyin, her face casually breaking into a laugh. "You wanna shoot me now, is that it?" Her face fell into a cold stare and grew serious as she pressed herself further into gun's muzzle and closer to Suyin. "Now's your best opportunity."

"You did threaten to kill me." Suyin stared back; her face stoic, even as the glassy remnants of her unshed tears still remained. "How do you think I should respond to that?" She lifted the gun, dragging it up Kuvira's body, stopping at the perfect spot right between her eyes. She gave the gun a push into Kuvira's head, watching the younger woman's jaw lock as she stared at the trigger. "What was it you told me after you stormed into my house?" Suyin paused. "Oh yeah, I could aim here…and end your life with one shot."

Kuvira slowly lifted her hand from Suyin's neck, grabbing onto lawyer's wrist. "You could."

"I debated it." Suyin took the gun away from Kuvira's head, wrenching her wrist out of Kuvira's grip as she draped her arm over the side of the bed. "You're lucky I like you too much to go through with it." Suyin sunk into the pillow and stared up at the ceiling, loosening her legs' grip around Kuvira in the process. "I shouldn't be letting you do this–none of it.” Her brow creased a touch. “But once again I am." She sighed, letting the gun drop to the floor with a heavy thump, as she raised her arm back up and grabbed onto the middle of Kuvira's button down, pulling her in closer.

Suyin's intentions were stunted as Kuvira refused; the woman turning her head to the open door as her eyes shortened into a glare.

Suyin turned her head as well, puzzled when she saw nothing. "What is it?" She looked back.

Kuvira lifted herself up, resting her hands on Suyin's propped knees for support. Silently, she looked around the room. But her eyes set again on the doorway and never left.

"Kuvira what is it?" Suyin asked again, with no response. Her eyes travelled from Kuvira's face, down to the skin left partially exposed in between Kuvira's shirt. She hadn't gotten very far with the buttons, but the shirt already hung much lower than before, having been grabbed and pulled on by her, while still saturated by water.

Her overall goal in unbuttoning the shirt was not to take it off, but she'd be lying if she said thoughts like that and beyond hadn't crossed her mind as her hands ran over Kuvira's damp skin.

As thoughts back to the events that had transpired not long ago resurfaced, Suyin remembered wondering if she was about to witness her former assistant turn into a vengeful murderer.

Even if Kuvira had no intent to kill her, she sure made every part of it scarily believable.

Suyin felt her legs push apart slightly, bringing her full and alert attention back to Kuvira. The woman above her furrowed her brow, continuing to look out the door as she moved from between Suyin's legs and off the bed, almost stumbling rather ungraciously.

Once on her own two feet, Kuvira doubled over lifting a hand to her spinning head. She groaned under her breath, and stood back up.

"Kuvira–"

"Don't move." Kuvira commanded in a low flat tone as she looked over her shoulder to Suyin.

_‘Did I hear something?’_ Kuvira trudged towards the door, where she leaned against its frame for support and looked out into the darkened house. There was a bothersome pounding behind her eyes, but she'd have to wait until the morning to feel the real intensity of that oncoming pain, and even then the alcohol would still be in her blood.

Suyin lifted her head from the pillow and propped herself up, watching Kuvira's slightly hunched, almost monster like shadow disappear around the corner of the door.

For the first time that evening, she relaxed to some extent.

Dropping her head into the pillow with a sigh, Suyin looked up at the vaulted ceiling being illuminated by the moonlight drifting in from the window. She ran a hand over her face then placed it behind her head. "How has my life gotten to this?" She chuckled to herself.

Sometimes time just went by too fast.

Twenty years ago she was just another high strung ADA–Assistant District Attorney.

Assessing warrants and stretching her skills in court were only the start to what would become her livelihood. Those grueling unstable years were tough. The kids were still small, and she was already swamped with work. She used to make fun of Bataar for spending long hours locked in his office, but sooner than later her profession led her to do the same thing. Suyin locked a lot in her upstairs office, keeping her work laptop and files away from the eyes of the family.

There was just too much work for one person. But quickly she got over it and pressed on.

Somehow she ended up representing some of the world's worst people, and it took her years to fully get over the morality of that aspect.

Sometimes she wondered if a piece of her humanity had also been lost to her profession.

By now, Suyin's life had slowed down. The kids weren't kids anymore, and she was well established as a shark of the courtroom. She knew the law books like the back of her hand, but also learned how to bend the rules. Distancing herself from the government, Suyin set up her own law firm.

The joy of being her own boss was that she could hire people to work for her. Although the only one she trusted was her most valued assistant, Kuvira.

At first meetings they were formal with each other. And Kuvira called her "Boss" for a number of months after she'd initially been hired. Suyin didn't dive much into Kuvira's background; there wasn't much to find. No parental records, No history of incarceration, just a few files on her college schooling. At the time the most she personally knew was that Kuvira was quiet, reserved, and very good at her job.

* * *

As a lawyer, Suyin wasn't always liked, and easily became a target for many.

Her life and Kuvira's changed the night a bloodied man burst through the doors to her law firm after hours, saying there was something he needed her to do. A friend of his named Marco, had gotten into some legal trouble and needed the best of the best to represent him, meaning he was probably guilty.

It didn’t take long to find out Marco was a mob lieutenant for the Shiwon; a generations old crime organization consisting of four main families, that didn’t mind recruiting and brainwashing the people they picked up off the dicey streets of central Republic City. Problem was…very few of those recruits were valued, and blood ties to the families always surpassed. Occasionally the Shiwon would take a liking to an outsider, but still, they always remained an outsider.

Marco was one of the outsiders.

His dangerous triple murder case lasted for months, before he was acquitted. That was a case to remember; she had never been paid so much for one client. And success could have never been achieved without Kuvira's help.

Kuvira was her "inside man", and found to be an expert in evidence tampering. She proved her loyalty on that case in more ways than one, but that wasn't the defining ice breaker in their relationship.

A month after the results of the case were out and Marco was back in the streets, Suyin was targeted as a hit. The Triad, the Shiwon’s mortal enemy, had put out a green light on the top lawyer. Oddly, Suyin noticed Kuvira stuck around after she found out about the multiple hit declarations. Late nights bled into early mornings as she stayed with Suyin in the office, sharp and on constant lookout.

The day Suyin let her guard down, Kuvira was already prepared.

Leaving the office one night with Suyin, the assistant opened the main door only to see a black SUV screeching to a stop in front of them. Kuvira's eyes widened and she grabbed Suyin, shoving her back inside. Moments later two men armed with automatic rifles got out, unleashing every bullet they had on the building as Kuvira led Suyin down into the basement. After some time had passed, Kuvira left her side to go upstairs and investigate the silence. She knew the moment she stepped foot upstairs that something was off.

Her instinct was right.

It was more than a hit and run. These men were in the building searching for them.

Paying close attention to her surroundings, she was able to find and catch one of the guys with his back to her as he reloaded a clip back into his automatic.

Standing at five-foot-ten, she took the shorter man out with a pocket knife to his jugular. But not before he alerted his buddy by firing off a spray of warning shots.

His buddy came up fast, catching Kuvira in the leg. As she made it behind cover, a total fire fight ensued; bullets flying into the walls until Kuvira shot the remaining guy in the head with his buddy's rifle, and it all ended.

Suyin remembered that night vividly. She was the one who pulled the bullet from Kuvira's leg. Not seeing anything but the bullet ridden aftermath, Suyin always wondered what Kuvira looked like as she killed the two men. And that word _killing_ wasn’t something she liked to hear in the same sentence as Kuvira’s name. Kuvira had protected her that night; the deaths were a necessary toll.

After that, their relationship was never the same.

Suyin had questions, but Kuvira still refused to talk about her past, always avoiding the subject. At least now Suyin knew Kuvira knew how to shoot a gun. Never did she think Kuvira would turn a gun against her.

They'd gone through so much together and now were here, ruining each other's lives because they'd fallen in love.

Laying in her bed with her eyes closed, Suyin felt oddly comfortable, not on edge as she was earlier. A normal person would have been racing to the nearest phone to call the police. But she wasn't a normal person, and sending Kuvira to jail wasn't something she wanted to do. She had her own idea of how to tame the beast.

The longer she played this game, letting it drag out, the more tired Kuvira would eventually become.

Everything was okay as long as Kuvira didn't have that gun.

_'The Gun'_

Suyin's eyes shot open, going wide as she lurched over the side of the bed making a grab for the gun in the dark. Kuvira had forgotten about it. Now all she had to do was keep it out of her reach. After fumbling around, her fingers finally found it, touching its cold steel. Grabbing the handgun, she lifted her head up, only to see Kuvira's dark form standing in the door way; another one of those scenes fit for a horror movie.

"I hope you weren't planning on using that?"

Suyin swallowed the lump in her throat; her eyes looking at the figure obscured in darkness as she froze in her stance hanging over the bed. "No, of course not. If I wanted to shoot you I would've done it by now." Suyin stared at Kuvira, waiting for her to approach.

_'I've gotta take her mind off the gun.'_ Suyin had to think fast as she heard Kuvira's steps getting closer; intermittent stumbles scattered within her messy pace.

"Was there anything out there?"

"No." Kuvira's voice came out of the darkness.

"What did you think it was?" Suyin tried her best at stalling. She didn't want all of the progress she'd made with Kuvira to go out the window, leaving them back at square one. Then Kuvira moved out of the shadows, and once Suyin saw those dark green eyes focusing down into her own, she pushed the gun under the bed with her fingers, and reached out to grab Kuvira's leg with her other hand, bringing her closer to the bed side.

Their moment was short lived as Kuvira broke from her grasp and turned her back to her.

Suyin shifted her body as she watched Kuvira again move down to the foot of the bed. In her line of sight, Suyin gazed at the copper button of Kuvira's jeans, left exposed by the shirt that was sloppily tucked down into the front.

Kuvira reached out, grabbing the tops of Suyin knees, pausing with a crooked smile. Not wasting anytime, she slid her hands down to Suyin's thighs before yanking the woman to the middle of the bed.

Resuming her position in between Suyin, Kuvira came face to face with the woman below her.

Suyin stayed quiet, looking at Kuvira, letting her racing pulses return to normal. She smiled, running a single finger down Kuvira's chest. "You know, you never answered my question from earlier…"

"What?" Kuvira smiled back, her eyes darting over Suyin's face.

"What do you want?"

Kuvira's gaze shifted directly into Suyin's eyes as her smile fell to a tired, half-hearted smirk. "You."

Suyin searched Kuvira's face, putting her hands against the sides of the younger woman's neck as she smiled back. "You've always had me."

Kuvira leaned down, capturing Suyin's lips into a lazy kiss.

The other woman responded, closing her eyes as she ran her hands down the length of Kuvira's back.

Even the lousiest of Kuvira's kisses still had a way of sending a liquid fire burning through her veins. Slipping a few fingers into the belt loops of Kuvira's jeans, Suyin felt the kiss grow slower, before the assistant pulled away, looking into Suyin's eyes with exhausted ones.

_'Perfect'_  Suyin took notice of Kuvira's clear fatigue. This was the final stretch; Kuvira’s adrenaline had run out.

"How many times are you gonna kiss me?" Suyin smiled.

"Until I get sick of it." Kuvira stated in an eerily serious manner.

Suyin ran a hand under Kuvira's shirt, rubbing the cold skin of her back with warming fingers. "You look tired."

A sudden rush of cold air danced across Suyin's stomach. She briefly looked down noticing that the bottom of her shirt had come up, presumably when Kuvira had pulled her to the middle of the bed.

"Come here." Suyin drew the woman down to her feeling Kuvira relent beneath her grasp.

Laying a good amount of her body's weight along Suyin, Kuvira put her face into the pillow, resting again beside Suyin's ear, as the other woman continued to rub circles into her back. She laid there, fighting against sleep's enticing draw. Even as great as a nap sounded at that point, a part of her still struggled to die out.

"No!" Kuvira pushed herself up, feeling Suyin slightly jolt beneath her. She attempted to shake off the effects of sleep, to little avail.

"What?" Suyin's chest heaved.

"I can't."

"Why not?" Suyin chuckled with a smile. Kuvira just never gave up. Taking her hands from underneath the damp shirt, Suyin brought her arms around Kuvira's shoulders, and pulled her down…again. "I won't move. I promise." She held onto Kuvira listening to the breaths next to her ear slowly even out.

But again it was short lived as Kuvira sluggishly picked herself up, and moved down Suyin's body.

Suyin lifted her head from the pillow, watching with a raised eyebrow as Kuvira stared down at her stomach.

Lifting a hand, the assistant ran it across the skin of Suyin's abdomen, and moments later slipped one arm under Suyin's waist, then the other, effectively locking the woman in her possession. Resting her head where her hand touched seconds before, Kuvira closed her eyes, letting the sedative function of the alcohol finally take its hold.

Kuvira's actions seemed odd to Suyin, until she thought about it. By locking her arms around her waist tight, Kuvira had trapped her. There was no getting out. Kuvira made sure she would stay good to her word not to move.

Suyin laid in bed, the feeling of Kuvira's damp hair against her skin sending a spark of chills through her. Hearing a snore come from Kuvira, she expelled a sigh of relief.

The night was finally over.

She propped herself back up on her elbows, watching the easy rise and fall of Kuvira's back. It really was over. Now only the aftermath was left to clean up.

With a flop Suyin dropped back down onto the bed and softly smiled as her own eyes started to grow heavy. She had finally pacified a situation that could have very easily turned traumatic at any moment.

Closing her eyes, Suyin thought of Kuvira, then of her family; feeling a little ashamed when her family didn't come first. She could call Bataar in the morning, knowing he'd probably taken the kids to the summer house in the country. But for now, she was glad to have prevented Kuvira from waking up in a jail cell with a life sentence.

**\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**  
**A.N. So now I can tell you that this story actually has about 4 different alternate endings I wrote out and ran through before choosing this one. Otherwise, that's the end to this one. Hope you enjoyed it.**


	5. A Tense Reunion

**A.N. Written kinda fast, I hope it's good.**

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The hardest part was waking up.

That saying was doubly true for Kuvira, who had tried to wake up twice before, failing in both attempts. She remembered the fading sound of a heartbeat as she tried to pick her head up. On the second try, the arms around her back held her down, ensuring that her fight to awaken would be thwarted. The main culprit of drawing her back into sleep were the hands rubbing circles over her skin. She felt comfortable and warm in that embrace, but now as she rose, that embrace was gone. Kuvira’s eyes blinked open multiple times. There still wasn’t any sun for them to adjust to, just an early morning blue glow representing a day about to break through the blinds of the nearby window.

Rolling onto her back with a very audible groan, Kuvira let her waking eyes linger on the ceiling. No thoughts or regrets ran through her mind, everything was empty. Her head just felt heavy, like something akin to a bowling ball; a pounding bowling ball. But still there wasn’t any pain, not yet.

Her body burned, feeling hotter than normal. A light sheen of sweat gracing her brow. Not wanting to move from the cool spot, Kuvira closed her eyes, letting the ceiling fan’s air touch her bare skin.

In mere minutes she was falling back to sleep. Feeling her head flop to the side, Kuvira jolted awake, launching into a sitting position, only to be rewarded with a sharp, searing pain pounding through her skull like thunder. It was her body’s way of saying “You fucked up” in a less than consoling way.

“Shit.”

Kuvira grumbled and groaned, falling face first into the comforter, before her full bladder forced her out of the bed.

Recognizing the layout of the room by heart, Kuvira swung her legs over the side, hesitating for a moment before standing on her feet with an overcompensated forward lean. Dragging herself through the whirlwind of dizziness that wracked her brain, she made it to the darkened bathroom slow and a little unsteady. There was a tingling numbness throughout her body, as though this was the first time she’d woken up in days. Without thinking she grabbed the door frame for support and flipped the single wall switch, only to be met with a harsh explosion of bright light.

Her eyes clamped down. “Nope, bad idea.” She flipped the lights off.  _‘Wait…Suyin’s bathroom?’_ Kuvira turned over her shoulder, looking at the empty bed behind her. Noticing a long sleeve button-down laying neatly spread out at the foot of the bed, Kuvira quickly glanced down at her bare abdomen.  _‘What the…?’_  She had been left in only her jeans and a sports bra.

Taking the hint, she moved over to the bed and picked up the black shirt. It was one of hers that Suyin just  _happened_ to keep laying around. Looking down at her slightly damp and dirty jeans, with flakes of dry mud peeling off, Kuvira knew Suyin probably had some of her pants too. She’d been there and stayed in the house so many times, Suyin was bound to have a small collection of her clothes in the vast walk-in closet. With a heavy sigh, Kuvira moved away from the bathroom to make the long trek over to the closet on the opposite side of the room. Glancing over her darkened surroundings, she took notice of her previously worn shirt lying discarded on the floor by the bedside.

Finding the wide double doors, she pulled them open to be greeted with a hall of pitch black.  _‘I’m not gonna find anything in the dark’_  Another sigh and Kuvira forced herself to flip the nearby light switch, squinting with a scrunched face until she had adapted enough to the soft light to relax. Looking up to the recessed lights in the ceiling, Kuvira mentally thanked Suyin that the fixtures weren’t something blindingly fluorescent. Nope, the older woman had a big thing for ambiance, and that meant NO fluorescent lights were allowed in the house.

_“It does nothing but cast a bad light on my image…and put me in a less than pleasant mood.”_  Kuvira smiled remembering what Suyin had once told her as to why all the fluorescent lights in the office were being taken down and replaced. To give her credit though, the lawyer did end up receiving appraising comments regarding the warm and welcoming feel to her firm. That’s when Suyin realized that ambiance played a much larger role than just making her feel comfortable, it could be used as a business tactic as well.

Kuvira moved further into the grandiose, seemingly endless closet. Cherry wood fixtures that looked like bookcases without the shelves lined the walls, almost reaching to touch the ceiling. It was no doubt that the wardrobe itself was a feat of magnificence. Bataar’s pants and shirts were set on hangers at the very entrance to the closet, his shoes taking up a couple shelves below that. It was obvious he was being squeezed out of space. Suyin did have a knack for taking over.

Kuvira’s progress was stunted by another stabbing wave of pain that tore through her head. She leaned against the case containing Bataar’s ties and waited for the extra bout of nausea to pass. It came and went after a few moments of stillness, leaving a remnant pulsing pressure behind her eyes. Ignoring the throbbing of her forehead, Kuvira headed to the back of the closet, stopping when it fanned out into a rotunda of Suyin’s clothes. “God Suyin.”

In regards to the law firm, Suyin was one of those bosses who never wore the same thing twice to work. At home, she didn’t care so much.

Knowing where to look, Kuvira walked over to the dark cubby hole under Suyin’s neatly folded sweaters where she normally kept her clothes. But they weren’t there, only an empty space. Before she went through the trouble and agony of bending over, Kuvira glanced around the room, stunned to find her button downs were hanging right beside Suyin’s in a spot on the wall behind her. With widened eyes and a raised eyebrow, Kuvira regarded the very obvious, less than covert, placement of her clothes.  _‘Way to be discreet Suyin’_

She couldn’t help but smile as she walked over to her clothes, taking notice of her jeans and trousers skillfully pressed, hanging folded over a few hangers. That certainly wasn’t the state they were in when they laid crumpled on the floor. Recalling that, Kuvira chuckled to herself. Pulling off a pair of jeans she found her way back out and to the bathroom once again.

Minutes later she re-emerged, dressed in a new set of clothes, feeling cleaner, as well as, relieved.

But now, she had to face Suyin.

Opening the bedroom door, Kuvira stepped out and stood for a moment, noticing the light from the kitchen at the bottom of the staircase.

_“I told you you couldn’t hide.”_

Kuvira heard her own voice in her head as she made it to the top of the steps.

The next thing she saw was a ghosted image of herself carrying Suyin up the stairs against her will, as her mind replayed the most vivid of her recent memories.

_“They deserve to know…Tell them how many nights we spent together...”_

Hearing her words again, guilt locked her jaw and averted her eyes. There wasn’t much she could do to right all that had gone wrong. And if there was any redemption to be had, it would be easy to get. But still, she had to try.

Starting down the staircase, with her bare feet against the carpet muting her entrance, the whole story of what happened hours before and of what she’d done, became even clearer.

_“…and tell them how many times you’ve **lied**.”_

She had ruined Suyin’s life. And while Kuvira knew she had a right to be mad with the deceptive lawyer, going about it that way wasn’t it. Suyin’s kids didn’t need to know; they didn’t need to be there to witness their mother’s vicious downfall at the hands of the person they’d invited in.

The smell of bacon in the air greeted her diminished senses as the soles of her feet hit the cold marble floor.

_"Making me lose my fucking **shit** Suyin!"_

Catching a glimpse of her boots still sitting by the wall, Kuvira’s eyes darted over the now infamous hallway leading to the kitchen.

The sound of a gunshot ripped through her memory, and Kuvira turned over her shoulder to the door, barely making out the small bullet hole left in the light colored wood; the hole she tore right next to Suyin’s head. Focusing back down the hallway, a flash of déjà vu struck her. The hall was dark again, and the gun latched in her hand, as the world around her rendered a scarily parallel scene to the horror it’d been hours before. Again, she felt cold and damp; her hands tremoring with adrenaline, itching with malicious intent to grab onto Suyin and make her pay.

_‘No. Snap out of it.’_

Kuvira shook her head, bringing the reality and light back.

She gazed down at her now empty hand; her heart left racing, but its beat starting to slow. The adrenaline, the anger, the hate, they had all felt so real. She could feel it again, rushing relentless through her blood. The monster inside of her was trying to push her back into the darkness, tempting her to let go of her control. It used to succeed, but it hadn’t for a long time.

Kuvira had never been honest or upfront with Suyin about her past. There was a reason for that.

Originally just another hired gun with Suyin on her hit list, she, known to the Triad as a Reaper (A highly trained assassin with a kill sheet of over 500 names), was sent to infiltrate Suyin’s law firm, and kill the annoying lawyer causing the gang such a headache.

Failure was not her option. She’d taken out dozens of hits in a matter of days, leaving body counts in her wake. But falling for the beautiful lawyer, she fucked up.

Unflinchingly steadfast and strong-willed, she didn’t fall for Suyin overnight. That was all thanks to the twisted work of time. The long hours she spent staying at the office with Suyin, cultivated and enhanced her minor fascination with the attractive older woman, until it absently became something more. Kuvira didn’t realize it until later, how the work she did for Suyin kept her mind busy, and her focus turned away from the original task of killing the lawyer.

She never cared to learn about her targets; Suyin was the big exception to that, because with this assignment, Kuvira was forced to spend time getting to know her. Normally the hits went by fast. After scouting the target, she was in and out within minutes, a little longer if things had gotten messy.  

The assignment to eliminate Suyin was only supposed to last a few weeks; still much longer than she wanted. But by a month’s end, Kuvira had fallen harder for Suyin, right on her face. A few weeks had turned into two months, and that eventually turned into an indefinite stay. She wasn’t sure which aspect of Suyin had done her in. The older woman had many alluring qualities about her. Just the way she walked into the firm commanded near complete silence from the staff members around her. Her presence exuded enough courage and power to put everyone in their cubicles to shame.

Kuvira had never met a woman like Suyin before. She was like a shark with a soft side; a friendly shark…as ironic as that was. If you stayed out of her way, she’d swim around you, forgetting the tempting smell of a person’s bleeding desperation. However, if you stood in her way, as any opposition, she’d rip you apart for all to witness as a warning. Suyin was a ruthless boss in the office, who demanded nothing less than the best from her employees. But, she also had the uncanny ability to relate to people. Kuvira could only suspect that was probably from her tenured years as a lawyer, having to deal with many types of individuals on a regular basis.

For a while Kuvira wondered if Suyin was the same person she was in the office at home. If so, she had to give the person married to the high maintenance woman props for keeping up with her.

A demanding woman like Suyin was bound to push a few buttons. She did Kuvira’s.

Suyin was one of her most difficult targets. Kuvira didn’t think this hit would be any different than the others, besides having to collect a little intel. But the stubborn, even narcissistic woman always found some small way to ruin her hidden plans. Whether it be a sudden schedule change, an unexpected errand, or doing a last minute favor for Suyin,  _nothing_  seemed to go according to Kuvira’s methodically planned strategy.

And getting romantically involved with that occasionally infuriating woman was definitely  ** _not_**  on the assassin’s/assistant’s to do list.

A few nights after surviving the near death assassination, after staying in the bullet-ridden office a little too long, their curious lips met in a kiss; the broom Kuvira had been sweeping with falling to the ground. There was only a momentary hesitance when Kuvira pulled away, looking into Suyin’s eyes for answers, but she knew she had met her match.

Unfortunately, that huge secret looming over her head wasn’t going away, and Kuvira still didn’t plan on sharing it with Suyin.

She would never tell Suyin how she tampered with evidence to keep her tracks clean, making sure the woman wouldn’t discover who she was.

She would never tell Suyin how she stood over her sleeping form on the office’s leather couch, trying  _multiple_  times to put a bullet between her eyes. Or, about the tumultuous inner conflict she had when she couldn’t do it. Kuvira paced the entire law firm that night, her mind resting on a new reality by morning, one where Suyin kept her life.

She would never tell Suyin how she managed to get to most of the other assassins before they got too close to them. She’d murdered seven. The first three took a couple shots to the head, the fourth choked out with telephone wire, the fifth and sixth stabbed, and the seventh, a various concoction of all the above (He was a particularly difficult one).

She would never tell Suyin that the two men she killed that day in the law firm, she actually knew; Sho and Rin being their names. She was forced to work with them on a few preliminary Triad hits in order to establish her loyalty and skills. Apparently, the lawyer was a high ranking target, not one they gave freely to any amateur assassin.

She would never tell Suyin how in some of the cases the lawyer received, the real murderer was sitting right next her, going into her house, befriending her children, kissing her, and most of all, sleeping in her bed.

The woman Suyin knew as her quiet assistant was one of the Triad’s greatest assets for a long time.

After multiple botched attempts at killing the lawyer. Kuvira became the Triad’s new method. They hired her because she was a faceless neutral assassin; someone Suyin wouldn’t be familiar with; a non-gang member the lawyer didn’t have in her massive intel collection. As an added bonus, she was told to send inside information back to the Triad, so they could pin point what Suyin would do beforehand, just to be a step ahead of her.

Unbeknownst to them, the ruthless assassin became a bodyguard.

Protecting Suyin from the hit that day had been part of Kuvira’s deciding factor to never leave her side. And she didn’t. It was a good thing Kuvira never had any moral conflict over sacrificing people she knew as a means to an end. It made her guilt for the two men, non-existent.

Failing to deliver a dead Suyin to the Triad, Kuvira had become just as much of a target. They came after her hard. Tearing up her apartments with bullets, only to discover she wasn’t even there (Kuvira had Suyin’s restless, seemingly insatiable libido to thank for keeping her so preoccupied).

Three times the lawyer tried to inquire about Kuvira’s constant moving, and three times she received only lies in return. After that, and after Kuvira’s living situation seemed to stabilize for a while, Suyin shrugged off her suspicions. Her assistant was still loyal, as well as hardworking, and that was all that really mattered.

Trying to live instead of play the role as the assistant wasn’t easy for Kuvira. Her previous life was too difficult to forget. After so many years, it had become a part of her. She couldn’t give it up cold turkey, even if Suyin probably would have advised it.

Bounty money paid high.

And she did lessen her exposure to the drug, starting by accepting only three assignments at once.

Kuvira used the time she had away from Suyin to take care of those…boredom-driven hits.

As much as she tried to avoid thinking about it, Kuvira knew she was still that monster, that Reaper, with a terrifyingly dangerous will to kill. And hours ago, Suyin’s rejection, enhanced by a mixture of alcohol, was just enough to push her over the edge. The rational explanation Kuvira had for driving her anger, was that she’d given up too much for Suyin only to be toyed around with.

But even then, in her rage, something short of miraculous happened. She  _still_  couldn’t bring herself to kill Suyin.

The flip and sizzle of bacon, broke through Kuvira’s… _somewhat_  guilty conscience. Stopping just behind the kitchen opening, she rested her hand against the wall, readying herself to face a woman who may have not even loved her anymore. If Suyin didn’t forgive her, she’d understand. In a weird twist, maybe this was her bad karma for never telling the lawyer who she really was, and that  _playing_  her assistant was only meant to be temporary, until she sent the lawyer to the Triad in a body bag.

Gathering her courage, Kuvira rounded the corner, stopping at the sight of a worn out Suyin wearing the same clothes, sitting on the Island countertop with a slight hunch to her normally proud shoulders.

Kuvira watched her for several seconds, her presence yet to be made known.

Suyin was in a low state not typical of her; a depressive state the former assistant had created. Vacantly, her eyes stared at the popping bacon frying on the skillet; she didn’t even like bacon.

“I’m sorry.” Kuvira’s semi-hoarse rasp jolted the woman in front of her, sending a pair of widened, if not, terrified eyes her way.

Looking down, Kuvira realized, Suyin was scared of her. It would probably be a while before the woman could trust her again, but something about the uncertain look in Suyin’s eyes felt like a rejection.

Hearing a long sigh come from Suyin as she released the breath locked within her chest, Kuvira looked up; her eyes meeting the woman’s edgy, yet slowly yielding gaze.

“You’re awake.” Suyin spoke softly, turning her head away from Kuvira. Seeing Kuvira’s near bloodshot eyes, brought a light smile to her face. A bad hangover had definitely seized the younger woman.

Hopping off the counter, Suyin emptied the freshly cooked bacon onto a plate.

Kuvira watched her put four raw slices onto the hot pan; her stomach grumbling out of hunger as each one sizzled.

“I see you found the shirt.”

“Uh…yeah.”

Walking back to the island, Suyin hopped back up and turned to glance over Kuvira, doing a double take at the sight of her new jeans. “…and pants too?”

“Yeah…the other ones were still damp, and pretty dirty.”

“I see.” Suyin turned away.

The awkward silence between them seemed to linger on forever. Neither knew what say or how to even start. And judging by the distanced look on Suyin’s face, she wasn’t the one who was going to be starting the conversation.

“What time is it?”

Suyin glanced up to the neon blue oven clock. “6:04 in the morning…I’m surprised you’re not still  _passed out_.” The last of her words were emphasized with a scoff.

“Suyin I’m sorry. I didn’t mean...” Kuvira cut herself off because it would only take her into a lie. She did mean it, every word. She didn’t mean to fire off the gun at Suyin, but her intentions were there.

“You did.”

After another stretch of silence, Suyin looked over to Kuvira’s remorseful eyes focused on the floor.  _‘No use in torturing her.’_

“Come here.” Suyin called to her softly, without the smile or smirk Kuvira normally associated with those words.

Walking over Kuvira stopped in front of Suyin, a hand in her pocket as she gazed up into the woman’s tired eyes. With so much looming around, wreaking havoc on her mind, it was clear Suyin hadn’t really slept. She couldn’t deal with anymore, her eyes told Kuvira she had been stripped down to the fine line between her sanity and a breaking point. But there was still a stubborn, shatterproof amount of strength keeping the lawyer together.

“Suyin I-”

Anticipating Kuvira’s third apology, Suyin just shook her head and reached out, both her hands taking hold of Kuvira’s shirt as she pulled the younger woman in between her legs.

Kuvira grabbed the edge of the counter to stop herself from being pulled in too far as she looked into Suyin’s eyes, her brow furrowing in confusion. She didn’t understand why Suyin was still accepting her after she had stripped her life into pieces. Breaking her eyes away from Suyin’s unwavering gaze with a barely audible sigh, Kuvira let go of counter’s edge, and let her hands slide onto Island’s surface. Then, before she could further protest, Suyin drew her in closer for a silent embrace.

Kuvira’s face slid past Suyin’s but didn’t touch; her chin finding its way —stiffly— onto the lawyer’s shoulder.  

_What’s her plan now?_ Kuvira caught herself questioning Suyin’s intentions, as rare doubting thoughts ran through her mind.  _Maybe she’ll squeeze me to death._ Kuvira smiled a little at that scenario playing out in her head.

She could see it now. Them on the floor. Suyin taking her back, holding her down in a body lock, choking every ounce of living breath from her lungs. And when she tried to escape, Suyin would tighten her forearm’s hold and pull harder, burying it into her throat until she couldn’t even gasp for air. It may have been a crazy notion, but being in the killing business for so long, Kuvira knew there were multiple ways to subdue a person, and multiple ways to kill them. Suyin couldn’t be underestimated. The woman had potential.

In fact, Kuvira never thought about it but, Suyin would make a good assassin. She’d be that silent but deadly type.

Acquiescing to Suyin’s grasp, Kuvira relaxed. The extra tension throughout her body did nothing but cause more pain and discomfort. She slipped her face into the curve of Suyin’s neck, feeling the woman’s life-rearing pulse beneath her lips. It didn’t slow down or speed up, just stayed at the same flat rhythmic tempo.

Suyin did nothing to reciprocate the movement. She just sat still and unmoving, her grasp around her assistant half-limp.

This wasn’t what Kuvira wanted.

The sullen feelings that came with the realization of a lesser relationship with Suyin were hard to accept. Kuvira wanted to hold Suyin tight and kiss her, but something told her it wouldn’t be wise to do. The older woman was completely drained. Not only was her grasp weak, but Suyin’s abnormally stoic posture off-set everything her vibrant character was about.

To Kuvira, her sad embrace showcased nothing more than acceptance. It wasn’t the unrelenting clutch the former assistant was used to. This was another form of rejection all in its own.

Taking in the last of Suyin’s withering perfume, Kuvira drew her face away from Suyin’s neck, resting her chin softly back onto the woman’s shoulder. She stared at her hands lying face down on the marble counter space behind them. Her fingers twitched ever so subtly, itching to wrap around Suyin, but Kuvira hesitated, not being able to bring herself to do it. Now she had to wait, respecting the boundaries she didn’t last night. Closing her eyes, she let her breaths match with rise and fall of the chest touching her own.

Maybe now things had changed between them, Kuvira couldn’t blame her if they had. How did Suyin know she wouldn’t snap again?

“Don’t let the guilt get to you.” Suyin spoke, her once powerful voice turned into a flat tone as she held Kuvira gently in her arms, feeling the younger woman’s forehead drop to her collarbone. “I’m really the one at fault here…there’s no need for you to say sorry.”

“Suyin don’t blame yourself.” Kuvira opened her eyes, trying to pick herself up. Making it just half way, she stopped, hovering over Suyin’s shoulder as the unrelenting throb in her head sharply turned into a stilling pain. Quietly, Kuvira groaned out her discomfort and closed her eyes again, gritting her teeth together.

“I thought about everything for a long time last night. I couldn’t sleep much.” Suyin pushed Kuvira’s head back down with a tender press, only wanting the woman to listen to her words. “It is on me, because  _I_  let it get to this point.” Her finger’s grip finally tightened, but just in a light reassuring squeeze. “Because I fell in love with you too.” Suyin almost all but whispered, staring out at the skillet with little thought of the soon to overcook food.

As one of Kuvira’s hands left the counter to wrap around her lower back, Suyin’s heart skipped a beat, until she realized the returned embrace was gentle.

Lifting Kuvira’s head, Suyin met her almost childishly guilty gaze.

As a seasoned mother, she recognized that look well. It was the same expression her kids gave her when they knew they messed up, and their eyes would beg her for forgiveness. But focusing on Kuvira’s eyes a little longer, as her thumbs absently brushed against the woman’s cheeks, Suyin saw something darker behind those deep green orbs.

Hours ago that darkness stood at the forefront of the hauntingly cold stare coming from the woman she loved. And it wasn’t the first time she’d seen that voided gaze. No, she’d seen it plenty of times before. They were the distant eyes of a killer, staring at her from the witness stand, testifying against her clients.

Those eyes often smiled sadistically at her, as they gave a lying statement to the court. But it hardly worked on her, and she’d won most of those murder cases, except a recent two that were directly tied to the Triad.  _They_  mysteriously went awry thanks to something as trivial as a lack of evidence. Kuvira was the one mainly in charge of gathering outside evidence, so if she told her there was nothing to be found, Suyin typically believed her. The amount of trust she’d placed in Kuvira tended to surprise even her.

_“There’s evil in all of us, some just have a higher capacity for it than others. That’s what makes them more dangerous.”_ Suyin recalled the words of one of her now dead informants. Funny thing about that statement was, as he said it, his eyes never left Kuvira’s.

She kept a closer eye on Kuvira for a couple weeks after his unsettling words, thinking maybe he knew something she didn’t. But time and time again, Kuvira never gave her any cause for alarm. After a month or so, her suspicions drifted away.

Regardless, Suyin knew there was more to the assistant’s backstory than what she’d been given. There was something damaging in her past that Kuvira hadn’t told her. Suyin knew, she always knew, especially after watching Kuvira fire a gun. Besides, how else could a base paid assistant, with no known criminal investigations training, know how to throw police off a trail, or dig up new evidence never before seen. Kuvira could pinpoint things in a crime scene that only the suspect would know. That aspect of her was a little scary at first, but proved helpful in the end.

Some of the cases Suyin received wouldn’t have been won without Kuvira’s help. They made a great team, that’s why she kept the younger woman by her side. Well that, and for other, more compelling reasons.

In her line of work, Suyin learned a lot about people. How to read them, how to talk to them, how to understand them…even how to befriend them. Kuvira was special, mostly because her persona was shrouded in mystery, and her intentions were never clear. But watching Kuvira put her own life in jeopardy to protect her, Suyin knew she could never let her go.

She stroked Kuvira’s hair, brushing the now dry bangs from her face.  “It would be unfair for me to hold this against you.” Feeling tears burning behind her eyes, Suyin broke their gaze, but Kuvira still saw it.

The lawyer was trying hard to keep it all together. A good portion of her world had crashed and burned. But for a mother to be spited by her own family, her whole world might as well have been crushed to oblivion.

She should’ve been shoving Kuvira away, kicking her out of her life for good, and sending her to jail for reckless trespassing. But Suyin couldn’t and wouldn’t do that. Instead, she was cooking bacon like a housewife, something she didn’t normally do. Bataar was always the breakfast person, she focused on dinner. But right now, Suyin considered this momentary reprieve with Kuvira the calm after the storm. Oddly she still felt safe and protected in these arms. She felt comforted, Kuvira’s grip telling her that in one way or another, they’d make it through any surmounting odds against them.

Placing a soft kiss to Kuvira’s forehead, Suyin broke the embrace, pushing her back a distance to give herself space as she hopped off the island, and tended to the cooking bacon.

“This is all for you, so eat it, you need food in your system.” Suyin dumped the last of the cooked bacon onto the plate. “Then we have to go.” She turned and handed the tiny mountain of bacon to Kuvira. “We’ll stop at the office first…”

“Why?” Kuvira sputtered out with two pieces of bacon already stuffed in her mouth.

“I completely blanked out on Friday, and forgot to pick up the case files for the hearing on Wednesday.”

“Oh.” Kuvira wolfed down two more pieces, a sight to which Suyin couldn’t help but smile.

Soon their eyes connected and Kuvira stopped. “What?”  It was the first real smile she’d gotten from Suyin since waking up. Still, nothing was forgotten between them, but at least Suyin was showing her that she was willing to move on.

“Then, we’ll go to your apartment. I didn’t see your car outside, so I figured you’d need a ride back.” Suyin said, the small smile still on her face.

Kuvira stopped again, this time with a puzzled look on her face. “My car’s not out there?”

“Nope. And don’t ask me how you got here. I have no idea.” Suyin cut off the gas stove, putting the pan in the sink as her short-lived smile faded.

_‘What did I do yesterday? —well besides…that.’_  Kuvira searched her hazy memory, staring off into space for what seemed like the longest time until she hit an epiphany.  _‘YUN…That’s right, I gave her the car.’_ Her eyes widened. “I know where it is.  Yun has it.”

“Who’s that?” From the sink Suyin turned her head to Kuvira.

“She’s a friend of mine from work.”

“Oh.” A short silence passed before Suyin resumed her out loud planning. “Anyway, I’ll call Bataar once we get to your apartment.” Her eyes fell to the sink’s alloy surface, and she let out a heavy exhale. “I have a lot of damage control left to do. Who knows what he’s been thinking.”

Out of her peripheral vision, she watched Kuvira freeze, her mouth opening probably for another apology. “Don’t. It’s fine.” Suyin cut her off before she could speak. “Bataar and I will work it out.”

“I wasn’t going to apologize.”

Suyin’s focus went to her.

“I was going to ask if you wanted me to do anything.”

“No.” Suyin’s curt response came out too quick, and she glanced down to find a good explanation Kuvira would understand, but didn’t have one. “Right now, I just want you to lay low.”

The look in Kuvira’s eyes told Suyin that wasn’t really what she wanted to do. But sacrifices had to be made, at least until things simmered down.

“I may not see you…” Suyin started with her voice low, as if she didn’t want to say those words. “…for a while. But I promise it won’t be longer than a few weeks.” She reached out, grabbing the hand Kuvira had already freed from the plate for her. “I’ve got to go get ready, then we’ll leave.” Suyin kept her gaze down to their linked hands, not wanting to see any rejection in Kuvira’s eyes. With a last reassuring squeeze, she let Kuvira go, making a swift exit from the kitchen. 

* * *

 

**A.N. Up next, Opal Visits Kuvira. Let's just say, she's got an interesting mind. lol ;)**


	6. The Unexpected Visit

**A.N. Hope this one is funnier. Written fast. There may be mistakes.**

**Extra Disclaimer: O.T.T. Opal reads too many romance novels ;)**

**\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**The Unexpected Visit**

_Two Weeks Later_

About to take a seat in the living room with her coffee in hand, Kuvira heard a knock at the door. Stopping halfway she turned and moved down the short hallway to the front door.

_‘I wasn’t expecting anybody’_ Kuvira’s brow furrowed as she carefully opened the door to see Opal standing on the other side, a timid look in her eyes.

“Hey.” Opal cleared her throat and nervously ran a hand through her hair with a smile. “You got time to let me in for a while?”

_‘She smiles just like Suyin’_ Kuvira looked down with a light sigh and turned around, leaving the door open for Opal to invite herself in. “Close the door behind you.”

Opal did as Kuvira said; softly pushing the door closed with a click, as she turned, looking around the unfamiliar one-level condo for the first time. Its modern and contemporary feel of hard rigid straight lines were seen in everything from the dark wood cabinets in the kitchen she passed, to the fire place in the living room Kuvira was heading to.

The apartment was immaculate, every surface looking freshly cleaned. The deep tan colored hardwood floors were polished, and all the furniture dusted. The neutral colors of the walls were basic but made the apartment feel warmer. Yet, it was still only as inviting as Kuvira let it be; and that wasn’t saying much.

“What are you doing here?” Kuvira sat down on the couch and set her mug on the table in front of her.

“I never did come and see your new apartment after you moved a few months ago.” Opal stopped on the other side of the coffee table and glanced around. “It’s nice…it’s very…you.” She looked down at Kuvira, watching her recline back into the dark cushions of the couch with an unamused look on her face, setting her feet up onto the edge of the equally dark wood grain table.

“That’s not why you’re here, is it?”

Opal watched Kuvira drop her head back and look up at the ceiling. “…No.” She swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes travelled down Kuvira’s neck, to her chest left partially exposed by the few buttons on her black shirt she’d left undone.

She wanted to place kisses on that neck, nothing else, just soft kisses. If Kuvira were to reciprocate like she did in her dreams, and those kisses turned into more...Opal wouldn’t complain.

Drifting her eyes lower to the looser fit lounge jeans Kuvira wore, Opal smiled. Kuvira could look good in anything. The baggy jeans she wore at home; the more fitted slacks she wore in the office. T-shirts, button downs, tank tops, sweaters, etc. Everything seemed to suit her in one way or another.

“So?” Kuvira’s voice startled Opal back to reality, dropping the musing smile from her face.

“I-I just came to see how you were doing.” Opal moved closer to Kuvira and stopped, gazing down at her as the other woman closed her eyes, wiping the remnants of sleep away with the palms of her hands. “I haven’t talked to you in a long time. You know, face to face at least.”

“You just trying to make sure I’m not still crazy?” Kuvira took her hands away from her face and looked over to Opal.

_‘Her eyes are so beautiful’_ Opal’s breath hitched in her chest just before it could be released.

“Hmm?” Kuvira tried to pull a response from Opal’s silence.

“When you say it like that it sounds harsh.” Opal glanced down to her feet and gave a slow smile. She slipped out of her flat shoes, letting the shy smile stretch into a grin as she pushed a stray piece of her hair behind her ear. Moving around the barricading table, she stepped over Kuvira’s legs, before landing on the cushion right next to her, leaving no space in between them. “You’re not crazy Kuvira.” Opal pulled her legs underneath her and turned her body to face Kuvira, leaning her head against an arm she had propped up on the sofa. “You did manage to surprise me with what you said though.” Opal paused, her eyes boring holes into the side of the woman’s face. “Do you even remember anything?”

Kuvira sat up with a dark look on her face. She didn’t want to remember it. She barely remembered getting to the house, but she remembered fighting with Suyin. That wasn’t the strongest memory though. The one that kept appearing in her nightmares, left plastered in her mind was the terrified look on Suyin’s face. She couldn’t rid herself of that image. She had created that fear. But that night, whatever drove her over the edge wouldn’t let her stop.

“Barely…” Kuvira lied to Opal’s question hoping the girl wouldn’t try to start a conversation about the night she didn’t want to remember.

“Well that night won’t define who you are.” Opal smiled. “That’s just your… _darker_ side.” She finished her sentence with the slight tilt of her head. _‘I kinda like that darker side’_

The other hand Opal had reluctantly laid on her own thigh stayed restless. Her fingers moved, rubbing into the fabric of her jeans, and her palm wiped off its sweat as it grew warm. She wanted to reach over and touch the thigh that was touching the end of her knee.

No, she couldn’t lie to herself, she wanted so much more. Her fantasies never stopped at just a hand on Kuvira’s knee; one hand touching wasn’t even enough. Better yet, she wanted to straddle over the other woman’s thighs, running her hands down Kuvira’s chest.

Her fingers ached for the chance to press into Kuvira’s flesh.

Even if the other woman’s clothes protected her skin from Opal’s urges, Opal still fantasized many times about the joy of stripping them off piece by piece.

Her mind was plentifully filled with all sorts of tactical plans regarding Kuvira. She mulled over the thoughts in her head, planning it down to the precise details like a pre-meditated murder. And removing the other woman’s clothing, was _just_ the start of phase one.

Throwing back the dark trench coat Kuvira occasionally wore on a rainy or cold day, she’d let it drop to the floor. That was the first outer barrier she had to conquer.

Breaking her way through the Italian imported button downs, that by now Opal knew her mother probably had a hand in purchasing, was her second.

Beyond that, her hands itched to yank the waistband of Kuvira’s pants, pulling the woman into the searing kiss she’d dreamt of so many times before. Together their movements would be fast-paced, shameless, passionate, amorous, and maybe even violent in some manner. She always figured Kuvira would like it that way; the rough throw-you-to-the-wall type. Opal wouldn’t mind that, she wanted to be taken over. She wanted to feel Kuvira’s primal lust, hovering over her, pinning her to the bed. She wanted to be the one to quench the thirst of Kuvira’s obviously **_mistaken_** appetite. But she also wanted to be the one in charge. The one to have such control over Kuvira, that the lawyer’s assistant would follow her every word. She’d stop when she said stop. And touch only when told to.

But either way, what Opal wanted most was to feel trapped in that strong embrace as the other woman latched onto her, their bodies shivering together in pleasure after the tiring ordeal.

_‘Maybe I should try something different.’_ Focusing on Kuvira, Opal’s eyes trailed up from Kuvira’s thigh to her well-formed chest. _‘A slower approach...’_ Her eyes narrowed.

That shirt would be the first to go. Button by button, she’d relish the moment, going slow as she unveiled more of Kuvira’s skin with each Ivory fastening she’d pull apart.

Once the shirt was open she’d let her eyes trail up the body in front of her, until they made it back to Kuvira’s smiling face. Then, she’d watch that smile stretch into a wanting grin, and they’d kiss. Or more specifically, she’d lean in, taking the woman’s warm lips into her own.

Opal’s eyes moved down to Kuvira’s waistline, just as the other woman’s lower half shifted in her seat.

Removing those pants would definitely come next.

Delicately, she’d run her hands over Kuvira’s newly exposed skin, taking in every detail, aspect, and scar. Mystified, she’d try to think up a story for each mark, then slip a hand down into the jeans while the other pulled apart the brass button and unzipped the zipper.

“Opal?” Kuvira looked over to the girl chewing her inner lip; she’d been quiet for a long time. Following her fixed gaze, Kuvira found herself looking down into her own lap _. ‘That’s weird. She must have zoned out.’_

“Opal?”

The dark-haired girl’s raunchy thoughts drifted right over Kuvira’s voice. She heard nothing in that moment, but the moans and groans they’d be making in the heat of a kiss. Kuvira’s deep moans would send chills down her spine and adrenaline racing into her heart. Then she’d focus on kissing Kuvira’s neck, maybe leaving nipped skin in the areas where her teeth decided to take things a step further. Kuvira wouldn’t mind a few bruising hickeys.

Either way she’d mark her. Yes, as primal as it sounded, she’d mark Kuvira as hers. _‘What then mom?’_

Opal’s eyes thinned into a glare. _‘No, she’s not going to ruin my thoughts’_ Her hand clenched into a fist.

Unbeknownst to her a pair of widened eyes stared at her, an eyebrow above one slowly raising.

But Opal wasn’t about to let everything Kuvira had revealed about her and Suyin, push its way into _her_ fantasies or rather, her denials. _‘Kuvira just needs to know who’s the better choice. Mom’s old. She can’t want that.’_ Opal’s face softened from its angering state. _‘Where was I? Oh yeah, the jeans.’_

After pulling down the zipper, Opal would’ve slid her-

“Opal!”

With a jump, the girl shot up a few inches from the couch at Kuvira’s loud voice calling her name.

“W-Wh-What?” Her eyes darted around the apartment, landing on Kuvira after their frantic frenzied motion slowed.

“You zoned-out for quite a while.” Kuvira gave a soft smile as her focus drifted back down to the laptop she’d picked up off the table and put in her lap. “What’s on your mind?” She rested a hand behind her head.

_‘You don’t want to know…’_ Opal cleared the nervous lump from her throat.

“Hmm?” Kuvira pushed, not hearing a response. 

“Nothing…” Opal lied. “I think I’m just really tired. School’s got me tied up.”

“This is your senior year right?”

“Yeah.” Opal sighed. “I almost fell asleep driving here—Don’t tell mom that.”

“I don’t plan on it.” Kuvira smirked, then looked over to her with an expression of concern reflecting in her eyes. “You can take a nap if you want. I’ll still be here when you wake up.” Kuvira paused, turning her head back to the glowing computer screen. “Wanna take one?”

_‘W-W-With you? That’d be amazing. Wait…Is that what she’s implying?’_ Opal tried not to let the surprise and _burning_ overzealous emotions running through her get to her face.  

All Kuvira saw were her eyes momentarily widen, and guessed Opal had just been taken back by the offer. She knew Opal was a shy kind of girl, _definitely_ not the extrovert her mother was. She probably picked up that trait from Bataar.

Little did Kuvira know, the girl next to her was ready to tackle her at any moment, plotting all kinds of plans as to how she’d do it.

Kuvira raised her eyebrow and looked over to Opal. “Really, you can sleep on the couch. I’ll move over to the kitchen.” She would have offered the bed in her room. But thinking back to the wild nights her and Suyin had in the same bed, she decided against it. It would just be personally awkward for her, seeing the daughter of the woman she slept with on a regular basis laying in the same spot.

Making a move to get up she was stopped by a hand’s grasp onto the thigh of her jeans.

_‘D-Did I just touch her?’_ Opal’s eyes went wide as she disbelievingly stared at her hand gripping onto Kuvira’s thigh. _‘I’m touching her…OH. MY. GOD. I’M **STILL** TOUCHING HER.’_

“Is that a no?” Kuvira looked down.

Opal shook her head, but was still at a loss for words. _‘I don’t want you to move.’_

“Sooo, no to the nap, or what?” Kuvira raised an eyebrow, completely unaware of the other girl’s raging thoughts.

_‘Maybe I can just…lay on her leg or something. **NO** get it together, you’ve been quiet for too long.’ _ “Um…” Opal’s eyes darted as she tried to find her words. _‘Say something stupid.’_ Opal took in a deep breath and let go of Kuvira. “Yeah, I-I’m fine. Thanks though.”

“You want some coffee?”

“No, I’m good. You know I’m not really a coffee fan.” Opal paused, her mind coming up with a bold plan.

“That’s right.”

“I wouldn’t mind stretching out though, I’m pretty sore.” Her gaze met Kuvira’s suspecting one. “But, I wouldn’t want you to have to move, and you only have one couch. It’s, not that big of a deal.” Opal deflated with an over the top sigh, and glanced up to Kuvira with a slight pouty face.

Kuvira looked away from Opal back to the laptop in her hand and closed her eyes; a near silent huff slipping from between her lips. _‘Just like Suyin. Always trying to scheme me into something with the dramatics.’_  Re-taking her seat, she lifted up the slim laptop from her lap, inviting Opal to stretch out her legs over her own. _“Come on.”_

_‘YAASS’_ Opal’s inner self jumped with glee as she looked at Kuvira’s thighs as though they were gold. Settling her legs over Kuvira’s, Opal smiled and she was back to her bubbly self. “Great, now we can socialize.”

“You never did tell me specifically why you were here.”

 “You want me to be honest?”

“Of course.” Kuvira went back to typing away and scrolling on her laptop.

_‘I love you.’_ Opal stayed silent for a moment thinking whether or not to say what was on her mind. That was the one thing she wanted to tell Kuvira, but letting out her unspoken secrets would have ruined everything between them. Kuvira would never look at her the same way if she confessed that. Opal knew it was better just to be happy with the bond she shared with Kuvira now.

Gazing up at the side of the other woman’s face, Opal smiled, wanting to reach out and touch Kuvira’s cheek, just to feel the skin she longed for under her fingertips. But self-control and a good idea of what Kuvira’s freaked out response would be, held her back. For now, all she could do was smile. “I missed you.”

Kuvira stopped, looking over to Opal with a crooked grin and cocked eyebrow. “You did?”

_‘Don’t smile at me like that. God I’m warning you.’_ Opal felt her heart rate increase and a flush of heat pour through her body to the tip of her core at that crooked grin. Kuvira’s smile was perfect, as well as her semi sleep tousled hair; both luring Opal into some entrancing web she couldn’t escape. “…I did.”

“Why do I feel like that’s not the entire truth?”

_‘Because it’s not.’_ Opal shrugged off Kuvira’s intuitive observance with a nervous edge in her eyes. “Well, I really did miss you. We haven’t spoken in a while.” Opal paused, trying to read into Kuvira’s somewhat distracted mood before moving onto the next thought on her mind.  “… _And_ I feel like I finally understand why you had a right to be so angry that night.” She watched Kuvira stop, knowing she was treading dangerous water. But nonetheless her courage led her to continue. “Well, you weren’t exactly discreet about it either, but…” Reaching her hand out Opal took a chance and rested it on Kuvira’s shoulder. “Obviously mom deser-”

“Opal I don’t want to talk about what happened that night. Ok?” Kuvira’s stern voice quieted the girl as she sat forward, setting the laptop down on the table, giving Opal an open view of what she was searching for online. “I really don’t.”

With her irritation rising, Kuvira knew her normal cliché response would’ve been to push Opal’s legs from her and get up to create distance, while they’d most likely argue; Opal pushing her curious questions on her just like Suyin did when she wanted to know more.

But Opal didn’t do that. Instead she just stayed quiet and looked down, Kuvira doing the same. Except to reassure Opal she wasn’t mad at her, she rested her hands softly over the girl’s shins.

_‘She’s touching me.’_ Opal watched Kuvira’s stiff form; her eyes glancing between her legs and Kuvira’s hands. She couldn’t help but envision those hands travelling further up her body, but after aggravating Kuvira, she felt guilty for those thoughts. With an offhanded glance to the computer screen, Opal quickly looked away, not caring to pay any attention to it, but instead the hands on her leg.

The site name “United Realty” was what drew her head into a double take. ‘ _Apartments?_ ’ Opal stared at the screen, then shifted her eyes over to the hunching woman. _‘Is she moving AGAIN?’_

“Look, I’m sorry you had to see me like that.” Kuvira deflated with a sigh as she used a hand to momentarily rub her tired eyes. “That’s not me.” _‘Is that a lie?’_ She wasn’t sure.

“I know it’s not.” Opal replied softly, reaching out in a daring move to touch Kuvira’s back, letting her hand slide down. _‘Ugh, I was just trying to be reassuring, but dammit this feels sexual.’_

Feeling the other woman unfavorably tense, Opal gave up with a sigh, releasing her legs from Kuvira’s grasp with a lasting reluctance. She stood, moving between Kuvira and the table over to the kitchen as she stuck her hands into the pockets of her silk lined navy blazer. In a chance stop by the granite counter top, she made the mistake of looking down to see a watch she recognized well. _‘What is this doing here?’_

The watch was her mother’s favorite; she’d worn it a few years to no end.

_‘Why does Kuvira have it?...Oh yeah.’_

Opal picked it up with narrowing eyes, looking at the worn black leather straps, gold dial, and the matching color buckle at the end. She’d always noticed her mother wearing it, but never got the chance to examine it as she was now. Suyin was very guarded about this little piece of metal, and she had never known why until she turned it over and looked at the wearing engraving on the back.

I love you –Kuvira

Opal’s eyes widened. _‘How long has this really been going on?’_ She looked over her shoulder at the woman typing on the laptop, then away again, as her face pulled into a frown. Kuvira may not have had a wedding ring to give Suyin. But her mother wore the watch just as religiously as she did the ring on her finger. But given the information Kuvira had revealed, Opal had no doubt that if given a hard choice, her mother would forego the wedding ring in favor of the watch.

Knowing her mother, she’d probably try to “lose it”, maybe drop it down the sink on “accident” to spare Bataar’s feelings. Then again, did feelings really matter at this point? Kuvira was ruthless in her confrontation with Suyin. And when her mother fought back, confirming every one of Kuvira’s words as true, Opal knew her father was being torn apart. She watched him a good amount of the time, wanting to cry for him. He just stood and listened, too shocked to make any move.

_‘Dad didn’t deserve that.’_

A spark of anger ran through her. None of them deserved that. Kuvira may have been the one to send everything crashing down on their otherwise normal life, but Suyin was the one to start it all.

A twinge of jealousy ran through her. She wished that watch was meant for her. Her mother had everything already, she didn’t need to have Kuvira too. And if everything Kuvira said that night was true, Suyin didn’t even deserve to have her. Her mother treated Kuvira like shit, at least going off of what Kuvira angrily ranted.

Opal looked down the adjacent hallway just feet away, leading to a set of two rooms; one of which she knew was the bedroom. She tried not to let her mind conjure up all sorts of images of her mother and Kuvira sleeping together. It not only disturbed her, but made those pangs of jealousy return. Without thinking she spoke. “Why her?”

Caught off guard, Kuvira froze with the mug in her hand lifted to her lips, as she looked over to Opal staring transfixed down the hallway. “What?” She questioned, bringing the cup down and setting it on the table.

“Why her?” Emphasizing her words a little extra, Opal turned around, facing Kuvira with the watch still in her hand.

“Why wh-” Kuvira’s voice caught in her throat looking at the object in Opal’s hand. Then the surprise dulled on her face, drowning out with sigh as Kuvira looked away. “You found that huh?”

“Not hard when it’s laying in plain view.”

Watching Kuvira stand, Opal tightened her jaw as the other woman just turned and locked eyes with her. Gazing into Kuvira’s green eyes made her heart beat a little faster. But she couldn’t look away, even as her mind struggled to scramble her words and thoughts back together.

When Kuvira broke their gaze to look down at the floor for a brief moment, Opal felt a wave of relief along with sadness, knowing that those eyes could show love, but only for Suyin. Only for her mother.

“I must’ve forgot to put that away, didn’t mean to leave it out.”  Kuvira moved closer to Opal. “I’m not trying…to break your family or anything…you guys have done a lot for me, an-”

“Obviously mom has done more.” Opal quipped, before realizing how the rude thought in her head had come to fruition through her own voice. That was the jealousy working inside her mind, or rather against it. Looking down Opal shook her head. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean for that to come out.”

“No, it’s fine.”

Opal looked back up. “You still didn’t answer my question. And I know I might be pushing into places that aren’t my concern. But I want to know why…she is my _mother_ after all.”

Staying silent the younger woman waited, following Kuvira’s movements with her eyes as she got closer and closer to her.

Kuvira stopped in front of Opal looking down at the watch in her hand. Reaching out, she took it; her fingers softly brushing against Opal’s.

She got it now. She understood why Opal went out of her way to see her every time she came over to the mansion to work with Suyin.

_‘Well Shit.’_ Kuvira raised her head, locking their eyes in silence as she sorted through her thoughts, remembering all the instances where Opal would latch onto her arm with smile, dragging her away from Suyin, making a big deal about not spending enough time with her.

Searching Opal’s eyes, Kuvira understood where the odd longing looks Opal always gave her as they talked came from.

It was the same way she looked at Suyin. Of course, her vacant dreamy gaze wasn’t quite as pronounced, but she was still guilty of it too. _‘Damn, and I always chalked that up to her zoning out. Guess I’m not as boring as I thought I was.’_

Without another moment of silence, Kuvira spoke. “I love her. That’s the only reason why.”

Opal continued to stare transfixed on Kuvira’s gaze.

“But I lo-” The words almost rushed out of Opal’s mouth on their own, indiscriminant and raw.

“ **Don’t** …finish that sentence. Please.” Kuvira cut Opal off, already knowing what the girl would confess. She moved closer to Opal, laying a hand on her shoulder. “It’ll be easier on both of us, if we don’t go down that route.” Kuvira prepared herself to break Opal’s heart with a steady inhale. “I…like being your friend…and I wanna _stay_ …your friend.” She saw the emotion in Opal’s eyes turn into despair as the girl looked away, avoiding Kuvira’s intense stare.

Kuvira sighed. Taking a chance, she pulled the shorter woman into what to her was a platonic hug. “You’ll never lose me…If that’s any consolation.”

_‘Wow this is closer than I’ve ever been to her... **and** …I’m being rejected.’_ Opal’s heart was lost in confusion now. Part of it wanted to beat out of her chest with every consoling rub or pat she felt on her back. Kuvira’s hands were warm, and her arm’s grasp strong around her body. Her embrace even felt loving enough to trick Opal into believing that the hug displayed a whirlwind of possibly hidden feelings that Kuvira might have not known she had.

But if anything, the trick was just another denial.

Kuvira knew very well where she stood, and _who_ she stood with.

Not being able to bring herself to return the hug, Opal pushed Kuvira away, nodding her head in silence as her gaze stayed focused down. “I’m glad I have that…reassurance.” She stuck her hands in her pockets and turned around, not wanting Kuvira to see the tears welling in her eyes. With a glance towards the door, Opal started to walk. That short trek was going to be the saddest, because it felt like a goodbye.

“Hey.” Kuvira caught Opal’s arm. “Don’t leave yet.”

_‘She won’t even let me leave on my own terms’_ Opal’s brow slightly creased. “Why are you making this harder for me?” She spoke honestly; her soft words sounding like a whisper to Kuvira’s ears.

“I’m not trying to.” Kuvira turned Opal to her, and the girl glanced up at her for only a second, but long enough for Kuvira to notice the tears in her reddening eyes. Resting her hands on Opal’s shoulders, Kuvira continued. “But…Something doesn’t feel right about us leaving it this way.” She lifted Opal’s chin with her hand.

“Any other person, and I wouldn’t give a shit if they walked out that door. But you…you do mean a lot to me.” Uncharacteristically, Kuvira’s eyes softened. “This is gonna sound weird coming from me.” She paused and looked away. _‘God how do I say it. “You’re like the innocence Suyin never had” —No, GOD NO don’t say that. That sounds like some dirty guilty pleasure.’_ Absently, Kuvira’s thoughts drifted to the _rougher_ nights she’d had with Suyin. _‘Suyin definitely has lost that innocence. Shit…what the fuck am I thinking? Focus.’_

“What is it Kuvira?” Opal had read the frustration in Kuvira’s eyes, as the woman in front of her desperately tried to search for the right words.

“Uh …” Kuvira looked back with a breaking grin and watched Opal’s eyes shoot down. “There’s something good about you…that…” _‘Where are you going with this?’_ “That…keeps me sane.” _‘Perfect.’_

Letting go of Opal Kuvira moved away, taking a few steps deeper into the apartment, without knowing how she left the girl’s mind reeling from her touch. She stared out the large French door sized windows streaming the Sun’s morning rays into the living room, debating whether or not to tell Opal what was on her mind. There was so much about her Opal didn’t know. The people she killed. The victims she never bothered to care about.

To her dislike, Kuvira found herself once again pondering over the thought she’d had several times before. What if Opal had been a target? Would she be able to kill her in the same cold blood knowing what she knows now?

Not a chance.

As annoying as it was, Opal made her second guess the morality of some of her past actions. The girl was so damn kind-hearted that it honestly irritated her sometimes. She helped people, read G-rated books in her spare time, played with animals, and respected her parents. With so much goodness floating around, Kuvira never knew what to do with Opal. She was her polar opposite.

“You’re my friend, and the small things we do together have significance for me. If me loving your mother hinders our friendship, then…” Kuvira trailed off; her face growing serious. “Well I don’t know what to do about that. I won’t give up Suyin, but I’d rather not lose you in the process.” Kuvira turned and watched Opal, waiting for any kind of response. In a twist of her expectations Opal looked at her and smiled. Although the smile looked saddened, Kuvira still took it as a confirmation that their friendship would survive.

“Can we… _not_ talk about this?” Opal didn’t wait for Kuvira’s response before she continued on. “This whole thing is really a mess. Mom and Dad haven’t even spoken about it yet.” Opal paused. “I’ll tell you my honest opinion, and then I won’t bring it up again.” She watched Kuvira nod in silence. “I don’t like it.” She saw the taken back look on Kuvira’s face at her blunt admittance. “Well, I didn’t at first. And honestly I still don’t know how I feel about it. I mean, she is my mother.”

Preparing herself for the next part, Opal paced away from Kuvira’s line of sight, coming to a stop behind the other woman as she took in and released a breath. “Is this what I want? No. That much is obvious by now right?” She asked her rhetorical question, looking out at the living room, letting her eyes dance over all its features. “It’ll probably take a while before I can _comfortably_ sit in the same room with you and mom together…but I’ll get over it.”

“You will.” Kuvira turned around to face Opal’s back. “I know it. Right no-”

“If you’re going to tell me I don’t know what I want, I’d rather _not_ hear it.” Opal sighed and turned around, knowing her words came out scathing. “I’m sorry.” She looked up into Kuvira’s eyes.

Seeing the woman’s face transition slowly into a widening amused grin, Opal’s brow creased. “What?”

“Uh...Nothing.” Kuvira chuckled to herself before getting the hint that her hasty answer wouldn’t suffice. “…You just…sound a lot like your mother.”  She rubbed the back of her neck, watching irritation find its way into Opal’s eyes, the rest of her expression emotionless.

“And that’s another thing, if this friendship is going to last… _please_ don’t compare me to my mother.” Opal looked away, and turned around exasperated. She felt like she was being rude to Kuvira, but soon gave up her guilted search for nicer words. In order to feel any kind of relief from this, she had to say what was on her mind. “I mean...” Setting a hand over her forehead and the other on her hip, she let out another sigh. “Ugh, just…just don’t. Ok?”

“Yeah.”

Dropping her somewhat dramatic stance, Opal turned back around, her thoughts breezing right over Kuvira’s acknowledgement. “In fact, if we’re together don’t even bring my mom into it. Don’t mention her, don’t mention what she’s doing…or…anything.” Opal looked into Kuvira’s eyes. “When you do, all I see is you two sleeping together…” The muscles around her eyes tensed. “And I’d rather not.”

Kuvira cleared her throat and grinned. “Yeah, I can see how that could be a problem.” After a moment of silence between them, Kuvira looked back up. “Are we good?”

“I guess.” Opal shrugged, the innocent tone to her voice and her light-hearted smile returning. “We’ll be fine.” Catching a glimpse at her watch, Opal figured it was time to make her exit. “I uh, I-I better go.”

“Yeah. Do you want me to…to show you out?”

“I think I got it.” Opal grinned, tilting her head to the side. “Thanks though.” Her smile lingered on Kuvira longer than it should have before she caught herself. “Uh…” She broke from her stupor, gesturing to the door behind her with a thumb over her shoulder as she slowly backed away. “I’m gonna go.”

Kuvira just smiled and nodded, watching Opal’s nervous display.

“Feel free to…call me…I-If you want.”

“I will.”

“Ok. Uh…” Opal waved. “See you later.”

With one hand stuck in her pocket, Kuvira silently raised her other hand, signaling her own good-bye.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pulling up in her car, Suyin watched Opal walk down the stairs leading to Kuvira’s apartment. Opal glanced over to her and did a double take recognizing the car, but turned away without acknowledgment, retrieving the keys to unlock her own.

**\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

**A.N. Haha I had such a good time and laugh writing this one. I’ve honestly had this chapter for a while, just didn’t know what to do with it. Lol. Also,the next few chapters are non-essential, just alternates I had written up on the side. The story continues in chapter 11. :)**

**\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**


	7. Alternate 1

**A.N. This is an alternate ending (that I sorta hate). And I think this is the second I wrote. I like certain parts, but ultimately it seemed way too out of character for EVERYBODY. Suyin’s a little off, and Kuvira and Bataar do things they would never do. Lol. All in all everything is sorta cringe-worthy. Lol. But I had a request for it, so here it is.**  
  
Tiny disclaimer: These alternates are not essential to the story, and can be skipped. 

* * *

********

 

**ALT 1**

Suyin glanced down, watching Kuvira’s thumb pull back the hammer of the gun, listening to the eerie click it made. “W-What’s not fair Kuvira?” She swallowed back her growing fear.

Closing her eyes Kuvira stayed silent as she inhaled one last deep breath. She opened her eyes to find herself staring at the ceiling above her head. She welcomed the chill as a draft breezed through her wet clothes. She shifted her eyes back down to Suyin; a look of finality set in them as she gave the older woman a small saddened smile. But the scary thing about this smile was that it looked genuine.

“I can’t get you out of my head.” Kuvira lifted the gun to the side of her head, right at the temple as she looked into Suyin’s widening eyes. “And that’s not fair.”

Suyin stepped closer. “You’re not going to-“

”You can’t play with someone’s mind, and expect that there won’t be any repercussions.” Kuvira stared into her eyes. “If this is the memory you never forget, then I’ve done what I came to do.”

“Don’t say that Kuvira.” Suyin carefully extended her hand. “J-Just give me the gun…please.”

Noticing Suyin’s slow approach, Kuvira pointed the gun at her, stopping her in her tracks.

“Stay back there!”

“Kuvira… _please_.” Suyin stepped closer.  

“Don’t!” Kuvira stepped back, with an inhale as she closed her eyes and set the gun back to her head. “You don’t get it…but this is what I have to get away from you.”

“No it’s not…I-I do…” Suyin looked around the room figuring there was no use in hiding her feelings any more. “…Feel the same way.” Suyin paused. “But what was I supposed to do? Huh? Just get up and leave everything?” Suyin shook her head slowly. “No, I can’t do that…and you knew it.”

Kuvira looked back at Suyin. “You still can’t say it…can you?”

Suyin looked away, and opened her mouth before it closed again.

“Just tell me you love _me_.” Kuvira tightened her hand around the gun. “Just once…Even if it isn’t true.”

Suyin opened her mouth freezing on the simple three words she had to say.

“You can’t even fake it.” Kuvira’s brow furrowed. “What’s stopping you?”

Suyin looked over to her kids, with tear-reddened eyes, and then to Bataar; feeling the slight quiver of her mouth as she tried to hold back every emotion, keeping herself from falling apart.

“I love you more than anything.” Kuvira said, connecting their eyes as Suyin turned back to her.

From Kuvira’s eyes, Suyin felt an intensity, a beckoning as they tried to lure her in. Without understanding why, her feet began to drag her closer to Kuvira once again.

Opal watched her mother walk towards Kuvira, who looked more like death with a gun in her hand, reeling Suyin into a trap. “Mom! What are you doing?”

“Kuvira I-” Suyin didn’t pay any attention to Opal, her focus glued to Kuvira. But with her moment of hesitance, she saw the intensity in Kuvira’s eyes go cold, and no longer felt that beckoning pull.

Kuvira had finally given up on her.

“Sorry…”

“What for?”

“For the mess you’re gonna have to clean up.”

Suyin watched in horror as the muscles in Kuvira’s hand tensed around the gun. “I do love you!” Suyin stepped closer, feeling adrenaline rush through her; hoping that her words were as fast as her heart beat. “Ok?”

Kuvira released the trigger from its halfway position. That was it. The one thing she wanted to hear. Letting the hand with the gun fall to her side, she shifted her gaze away from Suyin.

With anger filling her eyes, Suyin lunged forward, ripping the gun from the distracted woman’s hand. Pushing hammer back into place, she threw it on the ground, out of Kuvira’s reach.

Turning her head to Suyin, Kuvira was blindsided by a fist coming towards her face, before hearing the resounding crack of her nose as she staggered back. She stumbled over to the nearby wall from the impact, extending an arm out for support. Shaking off the pain, Kuvira took her hand away from her nose, and looked down at the blood covering her fingers, starting to feel her head spin even more than it already was as she dropped to her knees.

“You piece of shit.” Suyin moved closer to Kuvira as Bataar glanced wide-eyed from her to their kids, noticing a firing rage in her eyes.

She wasn’t done with Kuvira, and it wasn’t something the family needed to see. “Come on guys.” He gestured to the kids whose eyes were glued to their mother. “Come. On.” He opened the front door and grabbed their attention by lowering his voice into a warning tone.

“Aw, dad we wanna see mom kick her ass.” Wei said following his siblings out the front door.

“Watch your language!”

“But mom said it.”

Bataar glanced back to Suyin looming over Kuvira with dark eyes. “Well mom isn’t being mom right now, so out.” He looked back to Wei before filing out with them, closing it behind himself.

Stepping out into a glow of red and blue, Bataar stopped and turned back to the kids with a furrowed brow. “Who called?”

None of them answered.

“Dad…it had to be done.”

Bataar looked over to Wing, but didn’t say a thing as his brow softened. With a nod he turned watching the police approach them, and held up a hand.  “Don’t worry about it, everything’s fine.”

“You sure sir, we got a call about a woman with a gun on the premise.”

Bataar glanced over to his kids guilty faces looking away from him. “Yes, it’s just a false alarm.”

The police officer looked at Bataar in an annoyed fashion before turning around to the other squad cars and police officers readying their weapons from behind their doors. “False alarm guys, head back to the precinct.”

The multiple men and women of the force collectively groaned and murmured amongst themselves, as they got back into their vehicles.

The officer turned back to Bataar. “Sir, can I speak to you alone?” He glanced over to the kids.

“Sure.” Bataar turned to the confused faces of his children. “I’ll be back in a minute guys. DO. NOT. Go back into the house. Understood?”

They nodded.

“Ok.” Bataar walked off with the police officer.

“What’s in the house?” The broad-shouldered man looked over to Bataar.

“Nothing…I just don’t want them to get involved.”

“Involved in what?” The police officer stopped Bataar, after noticing his response didn’t match up. “Sir, I want to ask you some questions.”

“Go ahead.”

“Are you married?”

Bataar looked away. “Yes.”

The officer eyed him suspiciously. “And where is your wife now?”

“Still inside…” Bataar looked up seeing the officer’s raised eyebrow. “Look it’s not what you’re thinking. I didn’t kill my wife. She’s…She’s fine. She’ll probably come out soon anyways. Then you can talk to her for yourself.”

* * *

 

“Get up!” Suyin growled, pulling Kuvira up by her shirt.

Getting angrier just looking at Kuvira, she shoved her against the wall, focusing on the damage she caused without any remorse. “Did you even _consider_ what that would have done to me!” She stepped back, her fist meeting Kuvira’s face once again, landing right at the corner of the younger woman’s eye.

Kuvira didn’t protest as her vision went blurry in that same eye. Understanding Suyin’s anger, she let herself be hit. It showed Kuvira that even if Suyin never said it, she did care for her, and possibly wasn’t lying in her rushed confession of feelings.

And in a sadistic way, those dizzying punches drew her closer to Suyin.

Kuvira staggered to another wall, past the opening to the living room. For once her slightly inebriated state helped, numbing the sharp pain as much as it could. Doubling over again, she put a hand on her knee as the other shakily wiped away the blood from her nose that dripped onto the light colored marble flooring.

“You selfish shit.” Suyin moved closer to Kuvira’s hunched over form; her breathing just as heavy as Kuvira’s.

“I deserve that.”

“You deserve a lot more than that.” Suyin felt the fight in her slowly start to die as she watched Kuvira put her back against the wall and slide down. “How could you even fathom doing something like that in front of my kids, Bataar o-or Me?”

Kuvira wiped her nose again, looking away from Suyin. “Every night after the day I left it was hard for me to sleep. So I drank until I passed out.” Kuvira looked up at Suyin’s furrowing brow, then down again at her bloodied hands resting in between her legs. “It’s not me, not something I’d do but-”

“Then what has gotten into you? Have you lost it?”

“I wanted you to feel that pain. I wanted you to be traumatized to the point where you felt so bad you’d never recover from it.” Kuvira paused.  “I wanted you to have those memories that you’d never rid yourself of. The kind that just replay in your mind over and over again, until you go crazy…losing it as you try to find any method to get them to go away.” Kuvira gave a raw smile. “I figured, even if you didn’t care if I blew my brains out…you’d still remember it.”

Suyin moved in front of Kuvira and looked down at her. Reaching out she lifted the other woman by her shirt, dragging Kuvira up the wall until their eyes connected. She touched the side of Kuvira’s face, softly running her fingers over the spot she hit next to the woman’s hemorrhaging eye. Swallowing the lump in her throat, her angry eyes started to water as she looked at Kuvira’s bloodied nose, before glancing over to the reddened knuckles of her own hand.

Placing both of her hands against the sides of Kuvira’s face, Suyin dropped her head; staring at the ground, not wanting to believe she’d ever hit Kuvira like she did. “I do…already have those memories.” Her words came out sounding defeated. “Distracting myself with work and the kids, ease it some. But I quickly realized how hard it was not having you around.”

Kuvira looked at Suyin with widening eyes as she listened to the other woman’s confession.

She was hurting just as much, and Kuvira had almost made an irreparable mistake that would have only made everything worse.

Taking Suyin’s wrists into her hands, she brought them down, away from her face as she continued to listen to the other woman speak.

“After you left that night, I was wreck for days; trying to hide it from the family so they wouldn’t ask questions.” She gazed back up to Kuvira with saddened eyes. “I never lied to you. In fact, that was the reason why I didn’t ever tell you I loved you.” Suyin broke her wrists out of Kuvira’s grasp and turned her back to her, walking away just a few steps. “I didn’t want you to get hopeful, and expect our relationship to go further than where it was.” Suyin turned back, seeing confusion mix with an essence of anger that seeped into Kuvira’s eyes. “Look I know that sounds harsh, and maybe to you it sounds like I don’t love you. But…I didn’t want to give you a false sense of hope by telling you I did, because I knew when the inevitable came, and we separated, you’d throw it back in my face…thinking I was only lying to get what I want.” Suyin watched Kuvira look away. “Just like you are now.”

Suyin went silent feeling a hand take her own.

“I just wanted to hear you tell me you loved me once.”

“Well I did.” Suyin stopped, looking over to Kuvira’s raised eyebrows, she sighed. “And I still do.” She finished soft.

Picking up her arms, Kuvira held them out to the older woman with a light smile on her face, that faded, as she watched Suyin mentally contemplate the inviting embrace, only to look up into her eyes with a furrowed brow.

“I can’t forgive you for that.” She shoved Kuvira in the arm. “Why would you have killed yourself over _that_?”

Kuvira stayed silent.

“You have no idea how much damage that would have caused. Did you even care about that?” Suyin felt her anger returning, and took a deep breath, calming down her beating heart. “I-I don’t…” She lost her words for a second, as Kuvira’s hand grabbed hers again. “I don’t …know what I would have done, if you had pulled that trigger. If I hadn’t stopped you in time.”

Taking that as her cue, Kuvira slowly reeled Suyin into her arms, locking her fingers behind the woman. But a hand on her chest stopped Kuvira from pulling Suyin in any further. “Su…I’m-” Before she could finish, Kuvira stopped, feeling Suyin’s hand grab her wet shirt as she pulled herself in and rested her forehead against her shoulder. She didn’t hear when the sobs started, but she felt the uneasy breaths of the woman in her grasp. Bringing her arms up Suyin’s back, Kuvira tightened her hold into a reassuring hug.

Never again would they have a night like this.

* * *

 

A.N. Let me know if you want the second alternate. That one is longer and crazier, and has nothing to do with this one .lol.


	8. Alternate 2

**A.N. This is one of those alternate endings I mentioned. And in so many words, I can say, this is horrible, evil, mean, bad, and sorta crackish. Also, I’m eating a bagel while I write, which is probably why the intimate scenes are not very good lol haha.**

**It’s long, so this is part one. Part two is the worst. Lol.**

**The new ending starts somewhere in the middle of chapter 4. Everything may not mesh perfectly, and that’s because this was not supposed to be posted.**

**\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Kuvira grabbed Suyin’s wrist tight with a grin. “I know what you’re trying to do.” She pulled out the gun from her waistband with Suyin’s hand still attached. Breaking it from Suyin’s grasp, Kuvira tossed it onto the floor, letting it slide to the baseboard by the door.

Silently, Suyin stared into Kuvira’s eyes, hardly noticing the button of her jeans being pulled from its loop. 

Then, letting go of Suyin’s wrist, Kuvira dug into the waistband of the woman’s jeans with a deep grip; her fingers slipping into underwear she could care less about.

Hearing her zipper go down, Suyin tried to calm her hastening breaths using her previous method of deep inhales and exhales. But this time, it didn’t work; even they were growing faster.

 _‘Stay rational.’_ Suyin reminded herself as she watched Kuvira lean in closer.

 _‘Sex isn’t rational.’_ Closing her eyes tight, Suyin clenched her teeth behind her lips, feeling the side of Kuvira’s face nudge into hers again, but this time, with more force. She listened to the soft but heavy breaths subtly speed up by her ear, and felt the heat from Kuvira’s skin grow warmer, if not hot. She let Kuvira touch her, smelling the rain’s musky scent still embedded into her damp clothing. 

Kuvira’s haste wasn’t anything new to her, but this haste felt different; it felt insatiate and deprived.

Feeling a hand coming to rest under the back of her neck, Suyin went to open her eyes, but didn’t when the hand trailed down to her waist just moments later. She took in everything. But most importantly, Suyin paid attention to following Kuvira’s movements, feeling every searing touch throughout her whole body.

A sudden tug down on her jeans opened Suyin’s eyes…but only momentarily before they closed again. Another tug, and a chill of air hit the side of her upper thigh. Another tug, and her pants were at her knees. A last tug, and they were down to her ankles. Suyin hadn’t realized it, but on the last tug, she’d lifted her legs just enough for Kuvira to pull her jeans off. However, that didn’t mean she was giving into Kuvira’s desires. No, she was only responding to her own; her body acting on its own accord was proof enough.

And the woman above wasted no time in tossing those jeans to the floor; the underwear going with them.

Making her way back up Suyin’s body, Kuvira instantly threw them into another heated kiss, giving Suyin no time to think. This kiss was hungrier than all the others before it, and a tad sloppier than normal due to Kuvira’s intoxicated state.

This kiss was almost too much.

Teeth clashed with teeth, just seconds before Kuvira backed off, taking Suyin’s lip into hers, biting with enough pressure to make Suyin think she’d drawn blood.

 _‘Stay Ra-_ ’ A warm shiver up her spine, halted Suyin’s protests as Kuvira’s hand made its way under her shirt and across her abdomen.

Suyin’s heart rate leapt as her skin’s craving desire to be touched was finally answered. Regaining a weak grip onto Kuvira’s shirt, Suyin’s mind started to go blank. The next moment, her throat tightened as the other woman’s thumb ran over the still dormant peak of her nipple, and down the curve of her breast.

 _‘FUCK IT.’_ Suyin’s eyes shot open, and she yanked Kuvira closer to her; a sudden movement that even alerted the woman above her.

There was a quick moment of pause between them, and in that moment Suyin lost her chance to act. She was too focused on watching Kuvira shut her eyes, and shake off the dizzying bout of disorientation that came from her yank.

With her eyes closed, and her face turned away, Kuvira gently took Suyin’s chin into her free hand, propping herself up on her elbow. Still in a haze, she looked back and from Suyin’s eyes down to the peak of her throat. Leaning down, Kuvira placed a kiss into the spot her eyes landed, as the hands gripping her sides gave a final squeeze, and moved back to her nearly open shirt. Finding Suyin’s mouth, Kuvira reinitiated their kiss, slipping her tongue between the woman’s lips in an intrusion of her own volition.

Soon, both pairs of eyes closed, and Suyin’s hands found their way to the third button on Kuvira’s shirt; the one she never had the chance to take apart. With her fingers working faster than before, Suyin undid the rest of the buttons, only taking quick notice of the dark sports bra Kuvira had on underneath, once the kiss was broken out of necessity.

Pulling her back down by the wet flaps of the open shirt, Suyin rested Kuvira’s collarbone near the top of her head, not wanting to look up into Kuvira’s eyes just yet. She sat for a moment, staring out into the distance past the waist above hers, as she listened to Kuvira’s impatient breaths above her. A strong hand gripped into the skin of her back, and ran its way up until her abdomen lie exposed.

“Su.”

Kuvira’s hushed voice sounded right at Suyin’s ear, as her other hand moved to undo the silver buttons of the bunched-up shirt trapping her arm.

Feeling a finger trail down her chest with each button undone, Suyin took a deep breath, tilting her head back to the pillow as she closed her eyes.

What was there left to lose? If Kuvira wanted lust, she’d give her lust.

Reaching up, Suyin pulled the shirt collar down as her lips captured Kuvira’s into another, deeper kiss. Finally, control was all hers as she kept the kiss between them slow and measured; her fingers moving to push Kuvira’s shirt back in one fluid motion, as far as her reach could go.

And Kuvira finished the rest for her.

Dragging her hands away from Suyin and behind her back, she pulled the shirt off from where it was trapped at her elbows, and lazily threw it to the bed side.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 ** _‘This isn’t right.’_** Opal sat in the passenger seat next to her father; Huan and the twins taking up the back.

 ** _‘Mom.’_** She slowly looked up from where her eyes rested in her lap. _‘ **Kuvira.’**_

Her eyes darted from the rain soaked windshield, down to the dash board, then to the door handle of the car, where they stayed. Her mind played and replayed visions of the worst possible outcomes happening in the situation they’d left their mother in…alone. To Opal it was nothing but an abandonment, no matter if Suyin wanted them to leave or not.

Opal’s brow furrowed. And what sick ideas did her mom have planned in making them leave?

Her feelings of sympathy for her mother didn’t last long, as they were taken over by an anger spurred from jealousy.

After all that woman put Kuvira through, and had driven her to do, she wanted her back, wanted to keep her tethered by a thin string.

Opal’s eyes narrowed into a glare. Suyin had lied to them all, not to mention slept with the woman she’d also fallen for.

**_‘Kuvira.’_ **

The one Opal should have cared more about was her mother. But instead her mind kept relentlessly drifting back to Kuvira, surpassing her limited thoughts for Suyin’s well-being. Then it went further, taking her thoughts back to the intentionally leaked details of her mother’s affair.

What were they saying in there? What were they doing? What elaborate trap was her mother trying to drag Kuvira back into? Opal’s mind could only run itself crazy wondering.

_‘“After everything we’ve been through, and done…”’_

Opal heard Kuvira’s words in her head.

_‘“You ruined my life…a long time ago.”’_

**_‘Mom…’_** Opal’s thoughts battled against themselves, one side thinking, while the other remembered more and more of the words she had tried to forget.

_‘“Thinking you could just sleep with me over and over, then leave everything as though nothing happened…”’_

**_‘…drove her to it.’_ **

Staring wide-eyed, Opal came to the personal realization that it wasn’t her mother, but Kuvira that she should sympathize with the most. **_‘Mom drove her to it.’_** She repeated again in her head.

_‘“…every curve…”’_

_Opal shook her head. **‘I don’t wanna hear it.’**_

_‘” ...feel of her body…”’_

The wave of remembrances taking hold over her mind, made her jaw visibly tighten as Opal clenched her teeth together, trying to fight the illustrative images that came from Kuvira’s revealing confessions, feeding her spite for her mother.

_“I waited for you…I put my life on the line for you…I loved you…”_

**_‘No…No you don’t.’_ **

She looked back out the windshield with malice growing in her narrowing eyes. ‘ ** _No Kuvira…She doesn’t deserve it...She doesn’t.’_**

“Dad we have to go back.” Opal said quietly.

“No.”

Without another thought, Opal opened the car door, knowing well that Bataar would stop.

The car came to a jerking halt.

“What are you doing?!” Bataar watched Opal get out into the cold night. “Opal!”

“I’m going back.”

Bataar got out, meeting Opal’s determined eyes over the luxury car’s roof. “No, your mom sai-”

“Fuck mom!” Tears fell from her eyes as she ignored her father’s widened stare. “Dad…look at what she’s done.” Opal paused and looked down. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she closed her quivering lips tight, watching the rain water fall to the ground around her sneakers. “For crying out loud dad, you’re her husband.” Opal rounded the front of the car and looked at her father. “I shouldn’t be the one with the _guts_ to go back.” She pointed at her chest and dropped her arm.

Bataar stayed silent, then slowly looked away from his daughter; his eyes obscured by the rain on his glasses, and his face devoid of emotion. “Get back in the car.” He said stern, and turned back to the driver side door. “Now.”

“Dad, if you’re mad at her, if you’re hurt, just say it.” Opal moved around him. “You don’t have to leave just because she told you to.” She stopped behind him. “It’s your house too. And we’re your family.” In a glance, Opal looked back at the house in the distance, then again to her father. “I’m going back.” She looked at him with a saddened disappointment in her eyes, and turned around, taking off down the muddy road. She knew he wasn’t really confrontational, but didn’t expect this. Then again, maybe after hearing everything, he just didn’t want to think about it anymore, and turned his focus to taking care of her and her brothers.

“Opal.” Bataar whipped around, watching his daughter run back towards the house. “Opal!”

“Let her go dad.” Huan spoke from his open car door. “I have a feeling she needs this.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment slowly worked to its climax as Kuvira threw the last of their shirts to the floor, leaving the woman beneath her bare. She’d seen Suyin’s skin many times before, but never got over the feeling of it touching hers. That electric feeling felt just right. It sent a powerful, stinging rush all the way to her hands, as lust tried to become something even more untamed.

With every important sense magnified, Kuvira couldn’t feel her heart beating anymore. It wasn’t pounding against her chest. It felt still; its rampant beats almost contained as Suyin’s hand gently lifted her chin, breaking her eyes away from her body.

In Suyin’s eyes she saw a calmness; her decision had been made, and there was no turning back.

Kuvira gave a quick smile before leaning down.

Taking the crook of Suyin’s neck into her mouth, the room around them turned into a silent surrounding of little importance. The woman, whose hands reached around her back, grabbing her loosened belt, was her sole focus. Placing a hand under Suyin’s lower back, Kuvira felt the muscles tense and arch with each new mark she left. That alone made her yearn for more.

Suyin was almost always first, except for the occasion she fought hard for dominance, and Kuvira gave in. But that was rare. It went against their method, turning a night into something truly spontaneous.

But spontaneity wasn’t for tonight. Tonight, they played by the rules, and followed the process.

And when Suyin found both of Kuvira’s hands, then pushed them down to her waist, the woman above smirked, knowing she had gotten her permission.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 _‘What the…’_ Stopping at the door, Opal looked that the newly formed bullet hole in the wood, at about the same height as her mother. She swallowed the lump in her throat, and prepared herself to see a body on the other side. Twisting the knob slowly, she opened the door; her eyes darting in surprise over the floor at the lack of a body, or even any blood.

Looking up into the dark house, her eyes caught the immediate glow of the TV. With a racing heart, and shortened breaths coming from her mouth, Opal started down the hall and past the staircase with tentative steps.

She swore she could hear her heartbeat in her ears with each advance forward. She was waiting for the possibility of anything to happen. Maybe Kuvira would jump out and ambush her. Then again, Opal hadn’t forgot. She remembered Kuvira was near drunk, if not completely. And even though she had a surprisingly good amount of control, Opal figured she still wouldn’t be doing much jumping.

But the house was eerily silent, as Opal listened to the sound of her footsteps until they collided with another pair of shoes in the hallway. She gasped, her heart leaping from her chest until she realized nothing had happened. Calming her breaths, she knelt down, taking the boot into her hand. ‘ ** _It’s Kuvira’s. But why are they down here?’_**

Standing with one of Kuvira’s boots, Opal held it, if not cradled it against her chest, as she explored more of the house, knowing its only other occupants had to be somewhere.

Her eyes carefully scanned every corner. But after moving into kitchen, past the knife on the floor, and into another hallway, checking each room with no success, Opal stopped.

The only way left to go was up.

Her stomach fell as she turned and walked back to the staircase. The only rooms up there were bedrooms and one office. Tears welled in her eyes, as knew the chance they were just arguing in the office was slim to none. The house was much too quiet for that to be the case.

But nonetheless, she looked up to the top of the staircase. Taking the railing into her hand, she dropped Kuvira’s boot at the base of the steps, and slowly started up.


	9. The Final Act - Part 1

**A.N. ....uhhh....I don’t know what to say about this. It’s crack. Not really my finest. Posted out of request.**

**Takes off right after Chapter 8. (Warning- it gets dark)**

 

* * *

 

  **Alternate 2**

**The Final Act- Part 1**

_‘This doesn’t feel right.’_

She’d ran up these steps so many times before. But now, going up felt different, like she wasn’t supposed to do it. Her mind fought against her, trying to restrain her movements as some bombarding thought told her she needed to just turn around and leave.  

With warnings running through her head, Opal stopped. She didn’t _need_ to do this, she wanted to. And with no plan, she was only acting on pure instinct, not knowing what she’d say or do once her search came to an end.

_‘Kuvira.’_

She hung her head, and closed her eyes; her wet hair obscuring her face. In the air, she could still smell the sweet remnants of the last meal they’d had as a family, but now she saw the details she had missed. She saw the distant look threatening to take over her mother’s eyes as they all sat around the table; Suyin focusing more on the wine glass in her hand than them.

Up these same steps, Opal saw the recent irritabilities and frustrations that put a strain on a twenty-year marriage; her mother looking down to Bataar at the foot of the staircase with disinterest in her eyes, while there was nothing but concern in the ones looking back at her.

_‘She just faked it for us. So we wouldn’t suspect anything. I was too dumb not to notice.’_

Finally, Opal saw how suppressed emotions came back into her mother’s eyes when they found Kuvira standing wet in the middle of the foyer.

Her shoulders slumped. _‘how did I miss so much?’_

A muffled moan from the bedroom above tore into her ears, as her eyes shot open and stared at the carpeted step under her foot. _‘That…isn’t what I think it is.’_ Then hearing a second muffled sound colored in the throes of ecstasy, her jaw locked and her brow furrowed. _‘That sick-’_ Opal cut her thoughts short, and looked up to the top of the staircase, as a renewed haste was put in her steps.

Reaching the top, Opal let her lingering hand break its grasp on the railing as she moved her parents’ cracked bedroom door slow and quiet; her footsteps rolling into the floor.

Setting her hand on the wall in front, Opal leaned in as close as she could, glimpsing into the room through the door’s gap.

Seeing her mother’s bare legs around Kuvira’s waist, and the latter’s arm disappearing between them, Opal swiftly turned away; her eyes wide as a hand covered her mouth.

Quickly pacing away with a disgusted look on her face, she found refuge from the sound of bodies rustling against the sheets in her father’s office.

_‘I knew it.’_

With her chest heaving, she grabbed onto one of shelves of Bataar’s favorite antique bookcase along the wall.

 _‘I knew it.’_ She found the energy to take a few slow, lingering steps to a nearby window. Taking the sill into one hand, she rested the other and her forehead against the cold glass; a few small sobs breaking their way out of her mouth.

_‘Kuvira…you can’t…want that.’_

Finally giving into the shattering pain of heartbreak, she slid down to the wall, covering her mouth to mute her cries. She always knew in the back of her mind, that her fantasies of a relationship with her mother’s mysterious assistant would never come to fruition. But somehow, she still hoped there was a chance, even after Kuvira’s confessions all but tore her apart.

Still, she couldn’t fathom why someone near her own age, was falling for her _mother_ ; a woman almost twice her senior.

Reaching into the neckline of her wet gray tee-shirt, Opal pulled out a gold chain with an opal gemstone set inside of a pendant. It had been an expensive gift from Suyin for her seventh birthday, eleven years ago. She could still see family photos of the party in her mind. And in them, not a person looked unhappy. Remembering the picture of her and Suyin, Opal’s frown turned angry. She could see herself in her jean overalls, standing with a wide toothy grin; her mother beside her, kneeling with an arm around, bringing Opal in close; a smile on her face too.

But as Opal thought about it, she realized that that smile on her mother’s face was different. It was genuine, happy…and content. It was also before Kuvira.

_‘She’s turned her back on all of us.’_

Opal stared down at the beige carpet, and in one swift motion, she ripped the necklace from her neck and threw it to the floor.

_‘I’m not going to let her get away with ruining our family.’_

Collecting herself, Opal stood, and walked towards the door. But a final thought stopped her in the doorway. _‘I won’t let her ruin Kuvira either. Kuvira belongs with someone better.’_

She took her hardest steps yet towards the bedroom door, and steeled herself enough to push it open just a little bit more with her foot.

Her jaw never relented in its clench as her eyes looked down from the bed, and drew across the floor to the crumpled clothes near the door.

Frozen in time, she didn’t think. She used every ounce of her energy to garner the strength she needed to tune out the painful sounds of her mother’s ecstasy. In a glance to the baseboard close by, Opal saw the precious glimmer of the embodiment of all of her pain and frustration, lying forgotten on the floor.

Kneeling down, she reached, and stretched her arm into the room, grabbing the gun as soon as she could grasp its handle.

There were no second thoughts.

Keeping her eyes glued to Kuvira’s silver Colt 1911, Opal stood, cradling the gun in both her hands. Closing her eyes, she took a final liberating, deep breath, wrapping her hands around the gun’s handle.

Her eyes opened and she looked up with absolute spite set in them, as her vendetta was set into motion.

Pushing the door open, she moved in.

“God you’re **_sick_** …” Opal snarled at her mother, getting Suyin’s gasping attention and widened eyes; her hands yanking Kuvira down to cover her indecency. She tried to slip from Kuvira, pulling what she could of herself under one of the tousled bed sheets. "How long have you been there-"

"Long enough." Opal’s words came out sharp as she glanced down at her mother’s heaving chest.  "Dad couldn't stand up to you. He loves you too much. But I don’t care." She lifted the gun. "I'm gonna finish what he couldn’t.

"Hey!" Kuvira put a protective arm between Suyin and the gun. Then, pushing herself up, she lifted her leg over Suyin, and tried to get out of the bed, but wasn’t too intimidating when she stumbled off and swayed before gaining some stability on her feet. Taking a breath, Kuvira looked into Opal’s eyes, and moved forward. “Give m-”

"Stop!" Opal pointed the gun at Kuvira, making the woman pause in her steps. "Or you'll be next. And I don’t want that, trust me I don’t. But if I have to I will."

"Sweetie please, don’t. It's not what it looks like."

“…Oh, ok Mom. Had me worried there for a little bit.” Opal said with a smile in her normal sweet voice, going through the motions of lowering the gun. Then suddenly, her face changed, mimicking an even angrier expression than before, something likened to enmity. She lifted the gun back up, pointing it right at Suyin. “ _Really,_ do you honestly think I'm that **stupid**?” She gave a wry smirk. “Thanks.”

Suyin looked away.

“Opal look.” Kuvira started.

"This is for you. I’m doing this for you. But right now, I don’t want to hear you talk either.” Opal stared at Kuvira from behind the gun in her hand.

The assistant before her took a few steps forward, making it just a couple feet from Opal.

“Opal.” Kuvira stopped, a half-grin stretching over her face, hoping the smile would lighten Opal’s mood. She looked down at _her_ gun, then to Opal’s wet appearance, watching the girl take one hand from the gun for just a moment to run it through her soaked hair, pushing back and from her face.

Together they both watched each other; the room’s tension making it feel as though the walls were closing in. Kuvira’s hazy eyes watched Opal’s roam over her half-naked appearance. Her shirt was gone, with only the sports bra underneath remaining. Her pants were loose; the black leather belt having been taken apart, and the jeans left unzipped. They sagged just enough for Opal to make out the thick black waistband of Kuvira’s underwear; the writing on it she couldn’t discern in the dark.

Opal walked over to Kuvira until she stood not a foot away. Taking hold of one of the open loose flaps of Kuvira’s jeans, Opal dragged Kuvira closer. "Why do you want her? I'd treat you so much better.” Opal spoke soft, maintaining her hold on the gun; its cold metal tip pressing against Kuvira’s chest. “She uses you…” Opal pressed in further, seeing her opportunity to pin Kuvira against Suyin.

Kuvira wanted love, and in her mind only she could fulfill that. “Even now, look at what she’s doing.” Opal looked up. “Sleeping with you to make you forget.”  

Kuvira looked over to Suyin.

“She doesn't love you. You're nothing but a pawn to her. Just like we all were." Opal took one of Kuvira’s hands, bringing it under her wet shirt; her own core starting to throb at the first of Kuvira’s touch. "I do...I can…" Opal paused, her eyes flickering over the sweat on Kuvira’s neck. “I love you more.”

Suyin’s brow furrowed. _‘You don’t even know what you want.'_

"…You love me?" Kuvira looked into Opal’s eyes, pushing the gun away from her body, getting the shocked girl to slowly lower it to her side.

"Uh, Y-Yeah." Opal’s voice seemed to lack the sureness it held just moments before. Those were words she had never expected to hear from Kuvira.

Giving one of those slow stretching crooked grins, Kuvira laughed a little. "I’m not convinced…” Her grin fell as she grabbed Opal’s waist in a twist of expectation. “You should show me…"  

Seeing something dark lurking in Kuvira’s eyes, Opal put the hand with the gun still in her grasp between them once again, as she felt Kuvira’s fingers digging into the delicate skin at her waist.

What had she gotten herself into? Who was she really messing with?

The Kuvira she loved was different, kind and gentle. Opal remembered her genuine smile the most. It seemed so foreign now. This sinister, lustful person, ready to take her right in front of her mother, wasn’t the woman she’d fallen in love with. But as Kuvira’s hands started to travel lower, Opal had to admit, that this part of Kuvira was the one about to satisfy all her dark fantasies. She still wanted her, even if this wasn’t the way she’d imagined.

Suyin’s eyes went wide watching the display almost frozen. _'Kuvira wouldn't.'_

Opal wasn't ready. She was still only 18, and to her knowledge, a virgin. She wasn't about to watch her daughter’s virginity get taken away by the same woman she loved.

"N-Now?" Opal’s words staggered as her back hit a wall. She glanced around out of surprise, not even realizing that Kuvira had been pushing them back all along.

"Yeah..." There's was an eerie air of nonchalance to Kuvira’s words. She didn’t even seem to mind that the barrel of a gun was still pressed to her chest. "But mom's he-"

“So?” Kuvira shrugged. “I don’t care.” Her voice lowered as she took Opal’s face into her hand. “She knows, this is just like every time she slept with your father behind _my_ back.” Out of the corner of her eye, Kuvira glanced in Suyin’s direction.

Suyin’s eyes widened in horror. She would have ripped out from the covers if not for her very naked appearance, and the fact that her clothes laid tossed on the floor, between the bedside and the door. But still it was okay. All she needed were her jeans, and Kuvira’s shirt, both of which were closest to her. _‘Kuvira better just be trying to scare her away.’_

Slipping her hand from Opal’s skin, Kuvira cornered her against the wall by the door with a grin. Placing her hands on either side of Opal, she trapped her in.

Obscured from her daughter’s view by Kuvira, Suyin used the moment to slowly crawl out of bed and collect some clothes.

"If you come in here waving a gun, making declarations like that, you should know what you’re in for. You should be ready.” Kuvira eyes stayed locked onto Opal’s. “And I don't think you are."

Opal gulped down the lump in her throat, staring wide eyed at Kuvira as time slowed to a crawl around them. She wasn’t ready, wasn’t experienced. Realizing that for herself, her wide-eyed surprise died, and she looked down to Kuvira’s taut abdomen. Tossing the gun to the floor, she released a sigh.

Under any normal circumstance, she wouldn’t have been ready. Despite any of her raunchy day dreams and fantasies, another part of her wanted to date Kuvira, to be held by her, loved by her. This wasn’t at all what she was expecting. But at least now, she had the chance she’d been waiting for, the chance to give Kuvira everything she had; the chance to prove herself. She only had to accept the challenge.

Reaching out, Opal let the fingers of one hand then the next, slip further down Kuvira’s stomach before she grabbed the ends of the loose belt still resting within its loops. She looked up at Kuvira with uncertainty, and pulled her closer; the other woman waiting for her to make another move.

This was —almost— everything Opal wanted. She had always pictured it more romantic, and definitely without her mother in the room. But if this was what she got, then she’d just have to act as though Suyin wasn’t there. In a defining move her brow furrowed and she yanked Kuvira by the belt, bringing their bodies together, before tip-toeing up to take the more experienced woman's lips into hers.

Not expecting that from someone normally so docile, Kuvira smiled into the kiss.

 _'God, I’m actually kissing her...and it’s amazing.'_ Opal felt Kuvira’s hands squeeze into her sides, and used that as a sign to kiss harder.

 _'So she likes rough'_ Opal found herself losing reality as she figured Kuvira out, completely disregarding her mother.

Even with the slightest chapping, Kuvira’s lips were still soft and moist. A warmth spread throughout their kiss. And Opal herself thankful that Kuvira was drunk, because that way, the assistant was less aware of her novice mistakes. Yeah, there was a bitter taste left in her mouth from the remnants of alcohol on Kuvira’s breath. But when Kuvira kissed, she latched on. The only way for Opal to escape, was to force herself out as she took a breath of air, only to go back seconds later.

Their tongues twisted and mingled with one another’s. And a hint of something volatile found its way into the confusion surrounding their kiss. This new exploration was unlike any other. For Kuvira it didn’t set off fireworks or send electricity through her veins like it did when her and Suyin kissed. But for Opal there was certainly a spark, and she was the first to react to it.

Her hands began to mindlessly wander from Kuvira’s sides, and into the front of the undone jeans.

 _‘That didn’t take long.’_ Kuvira chuckled into the kiss, feeling Opal turn to her natural seductive talents with ease. But feeling Opal relax her back against the wall, thinking she was trying to put distance between them, Kuvira jerked her closer, throwing the girl in her arms off balance.

Breaking the kiss with wide eyes, Opal felt herself lose her footing, and start to fall to the side. On first instinct, she grabbed Kuvira, bringing the larger inebriated woman and her momentum down with her.

Crashing to the floor, Opal winced and listened to Kuvira groan above her. The impact went right through her shoulder blades, and radiated down her back. _‘God she’s heavy.’_

Pressed against Opal, Kuvira grimaced beside the girl’s ear with a growl as her head spun. Further irritated by something pressing into her thigh, Kuvira reached down just above her knee, and pulled out the silver culprit from underneath, tossing the gun not far out of Opal’s reach.

Peeling her wet chest from the abdomen under hers, Kuvira lifted herself to her hands. She opened her eyes. Directly in her line of sight was the flesh of Opal’s collarbone.

With hesitance, Opal turned her head, looking over to the bed for her mother. But Suyin was gone. And as Kuvira dived into the curve of her neck, her thoughts were abandoned as shockwaves ran down her legs. Lost in the woman’s rousing touch, Opal brought her face up to the side of Kuvira’s, and took the woman’s neck into her hands. But glancing out of her peripheral vision, Opal did a double take spotting the gun lying just a little further than arms reach.

That gun seemed to be the only thing that could get Kuvira to take her seriously, and she needed it to reestablish some semblance of control.

Sliding a hand down between her and Kuvira, she reached an arm out for the gun despite a tug on her shirt from above meant to keep her in place.

_‘Damn it, she’s not going to let me go that easy.’_

Placing her hand back on Kuvira’s neck, Opal lips found Kuvira’s as she kissed her with open eyes, gently trying to disguise her lean over to gun as just part of the moment. Reaching out again, Opal strained before managing to slip her index finger into the gun’s trigger guard, and pull it across the carpet towards her; her lips losing Kuvira’s for just a second.

Opal turned her focus back to the kiss as she closed her eyes, snaking her fingers around the gun’s handle and taking it into her palm. Now everything felt right. And if her mother was somehow still there, she had all but faded into the background, and oddly, Kuvira didn’t seem to care.

Unless to her, she was just playing out a temporary act with Opal; giving the girl what she wanted this one time, because she knew she’d never give it again.

But the only true goal on Opal’s mind, was in making the moment last forever; burning every searing detail of this encounter into her memory. She didn’t want to forget Kuvira’s compelling touch, her intoxicating kiss, or how their bodies slowly began to move and shift in response to one another.

With the gun locked in her grasp, Opal wrapped her arms around Kuvira’s neck, capturing her in an embrace; a leg underneath Kuvira propping itself up, readying itself to push into the ground and flip them over.

Opal listened to Kuvira’s hands drag across the carpet as the woman brought herself down to her forearms right beside her head, trapping Opal between them.

Finally, she had the one person she wanted the most, kissing her, and giving her everything. Or, what she thought was everything. Bringing a hand down, Opal softly gripped onto Kuvira’s jaw then travelled up into the woman’s hair.

And what a feeling that was, being able to touch Kuvira’s soft skin, and feel the strands of her cool drying hair tangled between her fingertips. She could only imagine the sensations Kuvira felt as the chilling metal body of the gun rested on the spot right behind her neck.

Freeing her fingers from Kuvira’s hair, Opal trailed her hand down Kuvira’s front; her finger slipping its way behind the underwear’s thick band. Suddenly she understood why it was so hard for her mother to stop her affair with Kuvira. The enigmatic woman didn’t make herself easy to resist.

Even now, Opal’s own thoughts were starting to turn on her.

She dismissed the fact that Kuvira wasn't in the right state of mind, and that her mother had slept with the assistant for years. She dismissed what it was doing to her family. She even dismissed her own thoughts against everything. Her mind had a new priority, focusing on what her fingers felt, as they edged around Kuvira’s waistline, wanting so much to fully slip into the underwear and invade the jeans she wanted off.

Every ounce of Kuvira’s skin belonged on hers. At least that’s what Opal believed.

But startling Opal, a pair of hands grabbed Kuvira from behind, ready to rip her off, ruining their moment in the process. But Opal, would be dammed to lose it.

Without thinking she quickly lifted the gun, firing a single shot at the shadow above them.

Painful grunts from the shadow tore Opal out of her fantasies, as she heard a thud collide with the ground. Her furrowed brow slowly loosened into a look of concern. _‘It’s not…no…of course not.’_

Almost on cue, Kuvira pulled back from her, looking down into her eyes with a dark warning in her own, saying _'You better pray that’s not Suyin'_.

Kuvira turned over her shoulder, watching with her eyes widening as Suyin tried to sit up and recover.

But she failed in each attempt, and fell back down, everything going silent.

Kuvira snapped her head to Opal, watching the girl shake her head with watering eyes, as rage slipped into her own.

Ripping away from Opal so fast that her head spun, she stalled in her lunge over to Suyin. Hearing Suyin’s breaths growing labored, she pushed forward in the turning world around her. She messed up. But her priority was Suyin and always would be.

"Su." Kuvira knelt by Suyin’s side and pulled her into her arms.

But even through her pain, Suyin’s eyes narrowed at Kuvira. If she had been able to fight back, she'd have pushed Kuvira from her and left.

But the dying woman's gaze shifting away from Kuvira’s eyes, was hurtful enough.

"Su." Kuvira pulled Suyin’s face back to her. "Please."

Suyin fought her grasp as much as she could, placing her hand weakly against Kuvira’s chest. But when her energy failed her, she gave in, letting Kuvira turn her face.

Kuvira held her as long as she could; her hand brushing over Suyin’s bleeding shoulder as she noticed the shirt she had on was hers. It wasn’t soaking wet anymore, just damp.

Then Suyin went silent, even her breaths could hardly be heard. Her eyes closed, and her body went what felt limp to Kuvira. She pulled Suyin to her chest; her eyes drawing into a menacing glare over the woman’s shoulder.

With near silent angered breaths, she clenched her teeth and laid Suyin back to the floor, staring down at the pool of blood around Suyin’s left shoulder that looked almost black instead of red in the darkness.

Everything was gone. Her friend. Her drive. Her lover.

With Suyin’s blood on her hands and forearms, Kuvira’s eye twitched ever so slightly. It was time to make the person responsible pay. She turned in Opal’s direction and stood, stalking over to the girl who slid away from her.

"I didn't mean it I swear." Opal pleaded with the vengeful lover in front of her.

Kuvira ripped the gun away from the frozen-in-shock girl and threw it to the side, yanking Opal beneath her in that same second.

The gun cracked against the night stand, and in full force, ricocheted to the floor, sliding a foot away from Suyin.

“Kuv-” Opal’s throat was seized by the woman she'd just kissed earlier. She pulled at Kuvira’s wrist, but the larger woman just put a second hand over the other, choking her out with two instead of one. She felt every length of Kuvira’s fingers wrapped around her throat; the thumbs crushing in her trachea; the rest squeezing into the back of her neck, as she stared into Kuvira’s enraged eyes.

This person, was a monster. How could she have fallen in love, with this?

Losing her life, Opal tried in a futile attempt to slam her fists against Kuvira’s chest, hoping to break her hold. But it didn’t work, Kuvira just took each blow, tightening when she felt her grip slipping. Then desperation came, as Opal flailed in her last attempt to break free and gasp just one life saving breath. Her nails raked scratches down Kuvira’s forearms, as the face before her became nothing but a blurry shadow with two dark holes for eyes. _'This isn't the last thing I want to see.'_ Tears fell from the corners of Opal’s eyes, just moments before everything faded into black.

**\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**


	10. The Final Act - Part 2

**A.N. Well, might as well get this over with. (Warning- it’s dark)**

**\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

Letting go, and letting Opal drop to the floor, Kuvira sat back onto her heels just above Opal’s thighs. Her hands draped in her lap over the woman who lay motionless beneath her, and her shoulders slumped. As her heaving breaths slowed, she tilted her head back, and looked up at the ceiling. Numb, there was nothing left to feel, as everything she cared for had been taken from her. She looked down to Opal’s face. Even her she cared about, but in the end, it wasn’t enough to save her.

Hearing the gun’s hammer crank, Kuvira’s head whipped around to see Suyin propped up on her elbow, struggling to keep the gun raised in front of her. In silence their eyes connected. Blood stained her neck and ran down her left arm, starting to drench the side of Kuvira’s shirt in red. Sweat matted the hair over her forehead, and tears burned in her eyes, as her body fought through the pain.

Suyin’s mouth quivered. Her tear ridden eyes weren’t just the saddened eyes of a lover, but the raging eyes of a mother stripped of her child, as she was forced to watch Opal’s body flop to the ground with a lifeless weight.

"Su…" With her eyes wide, Kuvira stood from Opal’s body and watched Suyin slowly shake her head as she tried to approach. Kuvira stopped above her and cautiously stood, staying quiet until she could speak. "…I…I thought she killed you." Kuvira’s chest heaved, her breaths picking up once more.

Suyin tried to speak but couldn’t, being overwhelmed by pain and emotion.

"…What…What was I supposed to do?"

"You went… **too far**." Suyin said with tears falling from her eyes, wanting to pull the trigger, and feeling horrible for not being able to. Then she looked down the wall behind Kuvira, to Opal’s body, and her will was instilled again.

With one shot....

She killed Kuvira, watching her stumble back and hit the night stand; her emerald eyes going wide as her mind refused to accept that she’d been shot by the woman she loved.

 **"She's my daughter!"** Suyin ripped through her clenched her teeth, the gun in her hand shaking as Kuvira dropped to her knees with a furrowed brow.

Landing face down, breathing labored breaths, Kuvira coughed blood, but picked herself back up with a struggle. Her face lifted to Suyin, revenge in her eyes. After everything she’d done for Suyin, everything she’d promised, and everything she’d lost, Kuvira wouldn’t let herself die by Suyin’s hands without a fight. Having lost control of her legs, she crawled over to the other woman on the edges of her forearms. She watched Suyin’s eyes widen as she moved closer, her bloody hand reaching out to grab Suyin’s ankle.

But that’s as far as she got.

Kuvira managed to pull herself over Suyin’s knee just before her body quit. Her last breaths were gasps for air as her lungs filled with blood, suffocating her in the process.

Watching blood leak from Kuvira’s mouth and onto her jeans, Suyin fell back to the ground and cried. This was all her fault. The loss of her daughter, and the loss of Kuvira were her fault. **_‘You should’ve told her no.’_** Her mind taunted her as she rolled over and out from underneath Kuvira. With all her energy, she brought herself to her forearms, keeping her head down as tears fell to the floor. **_‘But you didn’t.’_** Suyin dropped her head to the floor; her cries worsening as her heart felt as though it would burst from all the stress. **_‘You have to get back up.’_** She pulled her knees in, hyperventilating until she found enough control to calm her unstable breaths. **_‘You have to tell Bataar-’_**

**_‘Yeah tell him you fucked up again.’_ **

She heard Kuvira’s voice interrupt her own, but kept her back turned to the bodies. She couldn’t look at them. And especially not Opal.

Shakily, Suyin swayed but got to her feet; a cold sweat coming over her as she looked toward the open door. In a lightheaded haze, she dragged her feet to the door, seeing the top of the staircase just beyond. “Cellphone’s down stairs.” She whispered to herself, stumbling her way to the staircase, as her blood dripped a trail on the floor. Making it to the staircase railing, Suyin grabbed it with everything she had, trying to line her foot up over the step in her tunneling blurry vision.

_1…_

_2…_

_3…_

She counted her steps to keep her mind off the pain, and the metallic taste threatening to pour into her mouth. “Keep counting.”

_4…_

_5…_

_6…_

_7…_

As her knee gave out, she stumbled, but quickly picked herself up. _‘Just two more…I think.’_

_8…_

_9…_

She finally reached the bottom, but that’s where her journey came to an end as her body started to shut down. Making it to the hallway wall, her hearing turned into indiscernible gargles, and her legs became too heavy to lift. With her right shoulder, she leaned against the wall and slid down. But she couldn’t bare her body’s weight any longer, and fell onto her back. Lying towards the middle of the hallway, Suyin turned her head just in time to see a sliver of silver light shine on floor and widen, until it bathed her in its chilling embrace.

 “Su!” Bataar ran to her and knelt down, lifting her into his arms. “Su.” He spoke softly and stroked her cheek. He watched her eyes try to open, giving him some hope. “Su.”

Her eyes opened. A ragged breath slipped from her lips, and she looked into his frightened but strong eyes. For a long while she couldn’t speak.

“…I’m s-” Suyin cut herself off to breathe. “I’m sorry…”

He pressed a hand to her bleeding shoulder. “Don’t worry about that now. Where’s Opal?” Bataar passed over the apology. They’d have time to fix everything between them later. “Huh?” Bataar gently shook her. “Suyin where is she?” He watched in confusion as Suyin shook her head, tears falling again from her eyes.

Reaching into his back pocket, Bataar pulled out his cellphone and dialed 911.

“911 what’s your emergency?”

“I need someone down here now. My wife’s been shot, and my daughter’s missing.”

“Ok sir, tell me where you are.”

“2940 grove street.”

“Ok, sir please stay on the li-”

Bataar hung up. He wasn’t about to sit on the phone while his daughter needed him…wherever she was. Gently lowering Suyin to the floor, Bataar kissed her forehead. “I’m gonna go find her.” He looked at the blood staining her shirt. “It’s not your fault. Kuvira will pay for what she’s done.” He lifted himself up. “Don’t die while I’m gone. Please.”

Suyin looked away and nodded as best as she could, saddened for what she knew he’d find at the top of the steps.

Bataar stood, hastily moving down the hallway behind the kitchen, going through each room calling for Opal. Using the second kitchen entrance he moved into the living room; his eyes searching everywhere, the floor, the couch, and the dark corners of the room. Moving back out to the hallway, he looked down to see Suyin’s eyes closed. Fearing the worst, he moved to her and knelt down. “Suyin?”

Her eyes opened, and relief came over him.

“Let’s sit you up.” He did as he said, pulling Suyin up, and turning her against the wall with his assistance. He glanced into her eyes, glazed over and staring past him. Something wasn’t right. He looked down. “Ok, I’ll be back.” He took off ready to leave, but was stopped by the pool of blood left in the middle of the floor from where Suyin had just moved. Seeing a trail of smaller drops leading up the steps, he followed it. With his head down focusing on the blood spots, he found his way up the steps, to the top, and finally into the dark bedroom. His bedroom.

He spotted Kuvira’s body first. Face-down in another pool of blood.

 _‘No.’_ His face twisted into sadness as his eyes found the shoe clad feet of Opal’s body lying face up a few steps away from Kuvira. _‘No.’_

His world shattered.

 _‘No.’_ Going to Opal’s side, he knelt down, shaking his head. _“No No No.”_

Bataar’s hand hesitated to touch her face. Her eyes were still open, just staring out at the woman next to her. His tears fell, as he slowly took Opal into his arms, hugging her close to his chest; his eyes passing over the finger-like bruises left on her neck. “I told you not to go back.” He slammed his eyes shut, his tears falling from the corners.

With her still in his arms, he gathered his courage, and opened his eyes.

His bedroom had been turned into a crime scene. The gun presumably used to shoot his wife, was still lying on the floor in her blood, and a lifeless Kuvira wasn’t far away.  But when he found Suyin’s shirt on the floor, then looked up to the tousled bed sheets, he got what he needed to push him over the edge. He stood slowly, taking Opal with him as his eyes stared in disbelief at the impressions left in the sheets. His jaw clenched, and suddenly, in his mind’s eye he saw exactly what happened.

He saw Opal walk in on something she shouldn’t have. Then he saw it go to hell from there.

Moving with a sullen pace to the door, his eyes scanned the darkened floor, and did a double take when they landed on a pair of underwear that looked like it had been purposely kicked into a corner.

He stared at it, knowing it was Suyin’s by the lavender color. Looking out to the stairwell, his brow furrowed. “That ungrateful woman….”

He was angry, but his anger wasn’t the vindictive rage Kuvira had brought with her into their house.

His anger wasn’t hateful, even though it felt like it was. No, his anger was love’s worst enemy. His anger was indifferent. The woman downstairs was no longer his wife, but the person who killed his only daughter. The eruption of her lies had culminated into the death of his little girl. And that was all he could take.

Thinking and mulling over his daughter’s death, Bataar never realized he had been walking down the steps with Opal the whole time.

 “What have you done?” He stopped at the bottom, and didn’t bother to look at the woman sitting against the wall.

Suyin looked over, seeing Opal’s body draped in Bataar’s arms, as he held her like a father would a baby.

“You…brought this into our house. You **_killed_** my only daughter.”

Suyin heard the break in his voice, and had no defensive words to say.

He stared blank down the hall, not wanting to look at her. “It’s only fate that you haven’t died yet.” He paused. “And you won’t…” His eyes darted to her as she turned away. “…You’re gonna stay alive, and know what it feels like to lose everything.” Bataar stayed silent as he paced in front of Suyin, Opal’s head slumped over his shoulder. “…I didn’t even get…to say goodbye.” His tears started to fall again, his eyes gazing back down the hall in a state of shock.

 “…I didn’t…even say goodbye.” He whispered.

Stopping where he was to stoop to knees and cry, Bataar held Opal’s limp body to his chest. “You’re selfish.” He clenched his teeth, and took an unsteady breath. “And I shouldn’t have let her go…I knew it. I let her walk right into the mess you created.”

“Bataar-” Suyin managed to squeeze out.

 **“What did she do to you?”** He snapped at first. “What did she do to you?” He whispered the same words.

From behind, Suyin watched him lightly rock back and forth, as the room was bathed in a red and blue glow. He held Opal’s limp hand in his, remembering how her tiny fingers used to grab onto his as the paramedics busted in behind him; their medical jargon being nothing but a muddled gibberish to him. He didn’t separate from Opal. He was going to hold her until he was forced to let go.

“Sir Sir.” The hasty paramedic pulled him back. “We need to check her vitals-”

“Wait a minute.” A lower man’s voice sounded throughout the room, holding a commanding presence. The calm and collected way his words rolled out, even in the midst of chaos, told Bataar he was the head of the team.

With his eyes focused on the ground, Bataar watched his black military-grade leather boots roll into his field of view. Soon enough, the man’s hardened blue eyes, stared back into his, right at his level.

He’d seen this too much. He already knew Opal was dead. Bataar could see it in his eyes.

“Can I?” The man reached two fingers out ready to check her pulse.

Bataar looked down. “Don’t bother-”

“I still have too.” After a short paused, the man watched Bataar pull Opal away from his chest, and proceeded to do his job.

Bataar heard the man’s light sigh as he watched his fingers leave Opal’s neck.

“Well, this isn’t the first of today.” He stood, keeping his eyes on Bataar. “I’m sorry for your loss……Are there any others-”

“Sir.”

At the curt address, the tall broad shouldered man looked to his youngest paramedic. “What?”

“There’s another one upstairs.”

“Dead?”

The young man hesitated. “…Yes.”

“ _Christ_.” He whispered, as he looked over to Suyin then up again to his subordinate. “Get another person and bring the body down. I’ll check on her.” He gestured over to Suyin then looked down at Bataar. “And sir…I’m gonna need to take her with me.”

Bataar didn’t speak for a long while, tears clouding his eyes. He took a deep breath. “Can I carry her?”

“…Sure.” The man watched Bataar slowly rise to his feet, and turn around to walk out the door with the body in his hands. He didn’t know what had happened, and it was commonplace that he never did. He was just the man who arrived to take in the aftershocks, and save who he could from whatever hell had occurred.

He watched Bataar walk into a haze of red and blue, where the ambulances sat waiting, then turned his attention to Suyin. Kneeling to her level, he looked into her eyes, but she didn’t look into his. Her eyes stared ahead, almost dead, as he took her vitals. “I need fluids!” He called out, and in less than a minute another emergency responder was next to him with a clear bag and a needle.

“You think she’ll make it to the hospital.” A female voice sounded above him.

And the head medic looked up to her, then back into Suyin’s eyes. He’d seen that look too many times too. “That’s entirely up to her. We’re not here to play god.” He looked down. “Get me a gurney-”

“It’s already here sir.” The woman spoke again, lowering the gurney before she knelt by his side, giving him the needle to stick into the crook of Suyin’s arm.

“Good. Come on let’s get her onto it.”

The head medic helped the other lower Suyin to the gurney, and strap her in for transfer. Bringing up the gurney, he lifted it into a sitting position, before they wheeled her out the door; her eyes staring into the house on the way to the ambulance, watching the front door get further away.

“Alright, in we go.”

Getting Suyin into the ambulance where a third medic waited, the head medic turned to the other ambulance, watching it with cold eyes as it sped off. He breathed out a heavy sigh, as he absently ran a hand over the top of his buzzed hair. “Christ, I don’t even wanna know what happened here.” He let out a smaller sigh, walking around to the driver’s door and hopping in, the female medic getting in beside him. “Go ahead and call in homicide. They got a long night ahead of them.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**A.N. Well…I sure do know how to tear it all up, burn it, and destroy it, huh? I’m really not proud of that.**

**But that’s it for this alternate, and this story, thanks to those who read. Sorry for the sadness.**


	11. Chapter 11

A.N. Always wanted to continue this, so, heading back to chapter 6. This is technically 7.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**_Previously:_ **

**_Pulling up in her car, Suyin watched Opal walk down the stairs leading to Kuvira’s apartment. Opal glanced over to her and did a double take recognizing the car, but turned away without acknowledgment, retrieving the keys to unlock her own._ **

**_\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ **

**Kuvira’s Apartment— 6 PM**

**\----------------------**

She loved coffee…the coffee breath, not so much. Leaning over the bathroom counter, she brushed away the remnants and froze as two arms encircled her waist. _‘Opal isn’t that bold…is she?’_ Kuvira looked down at the hands. Recognizing the gold wedding ring she let go of her held breath. Glancing over her shoulder she gave the woman a grunt with the toothbrush still in her mouth.

Getting the message, Suyin rolled her eyes; her hands slipping from the soft cotton shirt as she wandered from the bathroom, stopping just outside the wall to lean her hip against a black four-drawer chest.

Six days ago she saw Kuvira for the first time since the whole incident, and much to her displeasure…or so she thought. She acted mad at the intrusion then, but couldn’t deny that seeing Kuvira made her feel at ease.

Kuvira always seemed to be there, reaching a hand to her from the darkness. And when she took it, she felt revived, as if escaping life for a little while was okay.

With Kuvira she was free. Free to live anyway she wanted; free to dive into her darkest desires……just free.

**_‘Trapped’_ **

Suyin’s brow creased at the eerie gut feeling that spurred that thought into her mind. But just a second later she brushed it off.

This was only the second time in months that she stayed in Kuvira's Apartment.

The younger woman probably thought she didn’t notice, but she was quick to catch on to the fact that Kuvira was hesitant to the idea of her staying the night.

Whenever she suggested it, Kuvira would tense and grow distant.

The lawyer always shook it off, just the same way she dismissed the menacing gleam that occasionally slipped into her assistant’s eyes, or the rare feeling of _‘something isn’t right’_ that ran down her spine.

But sometimes, she got lucky when circumstance and convenience gave Kuvira no choice but to take them back to her place. This felt like one of those circumstances, albeit, this time it would be an extended stay instead of a one night stop.

However, although less resistant now, Suyin quickly realized that sharing her life with another wasn’t something Kuvira knew how to do. She wasn’t a fun-loving family person like Bataar. A stand-offish bearing tended to be her default setting, even though Suyin knew Kuvira’s enigmatic personality had many facets; vehement suitor, allegiant protector…She could go on. But above all, Kuvira was an attractive young woman, _naïve_ when it came to love.

Suyin lifted her fingers to her lips, gingerly touching the smile that stole her self-control and snuck into place.

**_‘Trapped.’_ **

There it was again, that gut feeling. But Suyin would be damned to let petty concerns ruin her moment. Lifting her chin up a touch, she let the thought fade. Focusing on the present was more important.

Her eyes wandered around the bedroom.

This was the fourth apartment of Kuvira’s she had been in, and by far the nicest. The neutral grey colored walls made Suyin’s smile turn up at the corner. Kuvira hadn’t painted these walls; the hue seemed much warmer than any shade she’d choose.

A large bedside window filtered in golden sunlight behind its half-closed blinds, striping the bed’s charcoal grey sheets in uniform rays of light.

Pushing off the chest, Suyin walked towards the bed; the room feeling comfortable as the sun’s warmth mixed with the cool air, bringing her skin to the perfect temperature. She heard the water in the bathroom shut off, listening for the exact moment when Kuvira’s toothbrush hit the inside of the cup; her eyes still traipsing over the barren room walls, imagining the pictures she’d hang or the reading chair she’d put in the corner.

_*bump*_

Her shin hit the edge of the bed, stealing her away from fantasy. Stopped, she glanced to the wrinkle free sheets, pressed and pulled tautly over the mattress, even tucked in military style at the corners. She smiled, tempted to mess up such perfection; her mouth soon stretching into a grin mere seconds before she leapt, destroying the beautiful crisp sheets with a crashing tackle. Satisfied, Suyin rolled onto her stomach sinking her cheek into Kuvira’s pillow.

“What are you doing?” Kuvira walked out in just enough time to catch the older woman flopping down on her bed; the sheets a few shades darker than her hair.

“Come here.” Suyin opened her eyes and rolled onto her side, holding out her hand.

Kuvira walked over slow, noticing the playful gleam in the woman’s eyes. She took a seat on the bed’s edge, folding a leg beneath her as she watched Suyin. “What?”

Lifting herself, Suyin grinned. “Come here.” Taking one fistful then another of Kuvira’s black button up, she rolled to her back and pulled Kuvira over her. By the surprised look in Kuvira’s widened eyes and the outstretched hand gripping the pillow beside her head, it was soon apparent that her innocent tug on Kuvira’s shirt had really been more of an aggressive yank.

With their faces close, Suyin smelled mint flavored breaths coming from Kuvira’s nose. She couldn’t help but smile again, pulling Kuvira to her, her arms consuming the broad shoulders above her as their lips met; the rapturous sensation tossing her into a spinning vertigo of confused passion; her finger tips pressing into Kuvira’s back as her starved needs were fed. Her eyes stayed closed, not knowing that Kuvira had opened hers just as their kiss began to weaken.

“What was that for? Special occasion?” Kuvira gave a gentle smirk, feeling her arms grow heavy as Suyin relaxed within them.

Opening her eyes, Suyin gave herself a second to breathe and process the moment, as well as the captivating eyes looking into hers. “I guess…” She brought her hands to Kuvira’s face. Pushing them into the woman’s youthfully dark hair, she brushed down the cowlicks her eyes set on, aimlessly raking Kuvira’s hair over a single shoulder. “First kiss since that night…and your breath doesn’t _reek_ of alcohol.”

Kuvira’s smile faded into a frown, her jaw steeling as she looked away, irritated that Suyin would even bring that up, making her relive the images from that night. Maybe the lawyer was comfortable laughing as if it were all some joke, but Kuvira felt embarrassed by it. No one had ever pushed her to the breaking point.

Not wanting to say anything, Kuvira went to pull away, but held down by two hands, she looked back into Suyin’s eyes.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” Suyin put her hands against Kuvira’s sides, looking to them as they slipped under Kuvira’s loose shirt. She stayed quiet, hoping Kuvira would look past her off-handed remark, and offer some forgiving reassurance.

“…So then…you’re kissing me because you find me wonderfully irresistible...” Kuvira pulled away from Suyin with a raised eyebrow; a slow, proud smile returning to her face.

“Sure.”

Sitting up, breaking free of Suyin’s grasp, Kuvira’s eyes caught sight of a small burgundy suitcase sitting in the corner of her bedroom. “You moving in now?” At the sigh behind her, the corner of her mouth lifted.

“…I need time away from the house. It’s just me there anyway.” Suyin stared at the ceiling and rested her arms behind her head, letting her thoughts flat line as she watched the ceiling fan spin a dizzying but relaxing cycle above her. “I’ll stay a while, get my head straight, and figure out what I’m going to do next.”

“So…”

Hearing Kuvira call out, Suyin looked over realizing the spot beside her was now empty. She kept her eyes focused on the bathroom entrance, watching the lights flick off as the woman re-emerged, her long dark hair pulled back into a messy ponytail.

“You still haven’t told me what happened that night.” Kuvira leaned against the doorframe. “I’ll keep asking.”

“I know.” Suyin turned her head back to the ceiling; a somber silence coming over her.


End file.
